2 A WORD FROM THE PRESIDENTACADEMIC AFFAIRS

French Delegation at NDULebanese Emigrants’ Delegation at NDUNDU Activists and CongressmanAdmissions in Action! Report by Dr. Elham Hasham

3345STUDENT AND ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES

WEERCWEERC Workshop for Chekka area

LERC ConferencesChildren of Lebanese in Australia– Dr. Rosemary Suliman

Forum: Residents and Emigrants4th Millennial Lecture Series

Universal Reason: Religion and Civil Society– Dr. William GrassieWhat does Athens have to do with Jerusalem– Dr. Joseph BecharaCross Cultural Symposium with AmericanUniversity, Washington

North Campus NewsWorkshop: Lebanese ArchitectureWorkshop on Drug Abuse

Shouf Campus Shorts — Events

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OPINION AND CULTURE

Experience never stops – Elias KaroutSocial - CorrectionWhy NDU? – Serge DagherGovernment in Media Developments– Dr. Mahmoud HammoudActivities at the School of Humanities– Kamal DarouniAmerica’s Image in the Arab World– Dr. Najah AbdallahPersonal and Institutional Communication Skills– Dr. Naji OueijanReading – K.J. MortimerFrom Law Studies to Art – Samer CharabatiNeed for Speed – Nathalie KobrossiFrom the Faculty of Engineering

F.E. at a Glance – Dr. Shahwan Khoury, DeanIEEE Lebanon Section Elections – The DepartmentIEEE Activities for 2004-2005 – Ralph AyoubConference at NLC– Dr. Ali Harmush, Jaffan, AyoubCellular Phones and Human Health– Dr. Elias NassarAC versus DC Power Systems – Dr. Rabih A. JabrNational Grant for the ECCE Dept. – The DepartmentMobile Phone Location – Jinane MounsefRegional ACM Competition – Charles Aad

CONTENTS

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NDU SSpirit A periodical about campus life at Notre Dame University - Louaïze.

Editor-iin-CChiefGeorges Mghames

English EEditorKenneth Mortimer

TranslationValérie Aoun

ReportingGhada Mouawad

Arabic TTypingLydia Zgheïb

PhotographersAbdo BejjaniRodney Eid

Tel: (09) 218950 - Ext.: 2477Fax: (09) 224803Email: nduspirit@ndu.edu.lbWebsite: www.ndu.edu.lb/newsandevents/nduspirit

He signed the last of his articles then slept on a bed of words. When hewoke up to the rays of the sun to meet the city, he was overwhelmed withthe dreams of its tomorrow. But the highwaymen of freedom blew up hisfeet. They forgot, however, that the courage of pens will always embracethe wreaths of martyrdom!We owe it to the youth to dedicate this issue to the soul of that who spokein the name of their generation, to the martyr Dr. Samir KKasseer, thepolitical scholar, the democratic activist, the Renaissance man and thegreat master of free press. He is another symbol on the Golgotha towardsthe resurrection of Lebanon…and the Arabs!The Editor

July 2005 - Issue N° 34

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ETE SeminarsNDU Winner at ESU CompetitionNDU Founders’ DayJob Fair 2005NDU Students in Turkey – Nathalie KobrossiNDU Student Soars High – Dr. Naji OueijanDeputy Pierre Jmeil and Dr. Wadih al-Hajj– Lebanon of TomorrowDr. Eddy Abillamaa – The Future of the ForcesCandidates Farid el-Khazen, I. Kanaan,G. Abi Zaid and A. AounA Call for Democracy – Deputy Mosbah AhdabGibran Tueni talksSports Office NewsNDU students united for Independence

Mechanical Engineering at NDU – Dr. Walid C. AssafHeating System with Storage – Dr. Walid C. AssafAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers – Charbel WehbeSolid Mechanics and its Applications – Dr. Ghazi AsmarRenewable Energy – Wissam DaouTurbo Accessories – Wissam RashedEngineering Code of Ethics – Dr. George HassounCivil Engineering: Challenges of the Century– Dr. Jacques Harb

Performance of Landfill Covers in Lebanon– Sophia Ghanimeh

From the Faculty of Architecture, Art and DesignFAAD, Meeting the Challenge – Dr. Assaad Eid, DeanLondon Visit – Dr. Assaad EidVisit to Qatar – Dr. Assaad EidSantorini Workshop – Mr. Robert Haddad et aliiDesign for Martyrs’ Square – Jean-Pierre Asmar et aliiChadirji Award, ARCHITEC-TAOIC – Elie HawiThe Global Message, Landmark for Achievements – Rony ImadProfessional Design PracticeEthno-Musicological Expedition – Ahmed KaarkanawiArchitectural Heritage and its Preservation – Habib Melki

Something for your grey matter

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It is considered that it was at this moment the Church came into existence,the Mystical Body of Christ, by membership in which we share the divinelife, the eternal vision that God has of Himself. We say this in order torecall that being a Christian is not a matter of belonging to a sect, a clan,or a community with common political and economic interests. Being aChristian means living the life of the Spirit, as taught in the Gospel, theActs and the Epistles. In fact it entails being able to go outside our familyor our village or our country to share in the suffering of those outside.

I have said before that Catholic means Universal, so as a CatholicUniversity we must consider ourselves as having a mission that embracesour whole country, our whole region and all mankind beyond. For sixyears I have had the honour of presiding over the destinies of NotreDame University. I have been helped in this by colleagues whosediversified religious background represent well this catholicity; but all aredrawn together, all are working towards one God-given goal, and all, weare sure, are directing the students’ footsteps towards the same unselfishobjectives.

I once explained that our University must be distinguished by Science,Scholarship and Spirituality, three elements that must stand or falltogether. If during my six-year mandate they have moulded those whohave gone forth from our University Campus, armed with the riches of theEast and of the West, I thank the Holy Spirit for guidance, Our Lady OurPatron for her intercession, and all my collaborators for their support,their prayer and their labours.

A Word from the PresidentReverend Boutros Tarabay

And when the days of Pentecost were accomplished, they wereall together in one place. And suddenly there came a soundfrom heaven, as of a mighty wind coming; and it filled thewhole house where they were sitting. And there appeared tothem parted tongues, as if it were of fire; and it sat upon everyone of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.(The Acts, ch. 2)

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French Embassy Delegationat NDUMay 11, 2005

Lebanese Emigrants’Delegation Visits NDUMay 10, 2005

A delegation of Lebanese emigrants visited NDU,headed by the President of the Lebanese-AmericanCouncil for Democracy, Mr. TTony HHaddad, thePresident of the Lebanese-American Council in Detroit,Mr. GGaby IIssa, and the President of the Gathering forLebanon in France, Mr. SSimon AAbi RRamia. Thedelegation was welcomed by the President of NDU,Father BBoutros TTarabay, and the Vice-President forSponsored Research and Development, Dr. AAmeenAlbert RRihani.

Discussions centered on academic affairs with the aimof establishing a mechanism to promote cooperationbetween the Lebanese emigrants in the countries ofemigration and the different Lebanese universities ingeneral, and NDU in particular as a universityadopting the American system of education.

After the meeting, the delegation was invited to alunch that was organized in their honor and attendedby political, media and social figures.

The cultural attaché at the FrenchEmbassy, Mr. FFrederic CClavier,visited NDU with a delegation ofofficials from the embassy.

The aim of the visit was to promoteinteraction for the purpose ofbuilding cultural and academicbridges between the Francophoneand Anglophone cultures, inparticular through academiccooperation between Frenchinstitutions and NDU.

The visit was devoted to three mainobjectives:

> Establishing a network ofcooperation to develop andpromote research centers atNDU, especially those related to

the issues of environment,energy and water.

> Establishing an academiccooperation that will allow theexchange of instructors andstudents with French universities,making use of an exchange ofcomplementary expertise andencouraging students to sit fortheir MA’s and PhD’s inEuropean universities.

> Cooperating on promoting thestudy of the French languageamong students, openingFrench-speaking courses, andpaving the way towards offeringa major in French literature.

The President of NDU, FatherBoutros TTarabay, indicated thepossibility of establishing a specialdepartment for the teaching of

French language and literature atthe university.

All those present agreed that thiscooperation contributes to guidingMA theses towards the practicalissues of scientific principles andcommended the successfulexample of cooperation betweenthe Faculty of BusinessAdministration and Economics atNDU and the School of Business atBordeaux University in France,which is based on a dual degreeprogram delivering NDU’s MBADegree, and the French National“Grandes Ecoles” Master’s inInternational Business.

On Easter Monday, 28th March,2005, US Congressman DarrellIssa laid a wreath of flowers tohonour the Americans andLebanese who died as a result ofexplosions directed againstAmericans here in the 1980s and1990s. The Congressman said thathe wished that violence wouldcease and that Lebanon wouldknow peace once again as thecountry “is on its way to a verydifferent future.” (Daily Star, p.2,29th March, 2005.)

Following the ceremony, California

NDU Activists andCongressman

Republican Representative Issa metwith the Acting Chair of theRepublicans Abroad in LebanonDr. AAkl KKairouz, Chair of theDemocrats Abroad in LebanonDr. Eugene SSensenig-DDabbous andVice Chair of the DA LebanonMr. George HHajjar. All three areprofessors at NDU. Dr. Sensenig-Dabbous is shown here with hisLebanese-Canadian wife Dr. DDimaDabbous-SSensenig, who isprofessor for Media Law at theLebanese American University,Beirut.

Both Dr. Kairouz andDr. Sensenig-Dabbous assistAmericans in Lebanon wishing toremain politically active in theUnited States and organise variousevents, including voter registrationdrives prior to US elections.

1. From left to right: Mr. George Hajjar,Dr. Akl Kairouz, Congressman Darrell Issa,Dr. Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous andDr. Dima Dabbous-Sensenig. (Photo bycourtesy of the American Embassy)

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Admissions In Action!

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DDrr.. EEllhhaamm HHaasshheemm reportson her recent tour(December 2004-January2005) of Australia, NewZealand, the Middle Eastand the USA.The relationship between Australiaand Lebanon is one of the closestin the Middle East. Australia’sfundamental connection is basedon the strength of Australian-Lebanese communities, stemmingdirectly from the large numbers ofLebanese who have migrated toAustralia over the last 150 years.Today, the Lebanese in Australiaare about 300,000 strong. Of

these, about 70,000 were born inLebanon (Census 1996), while theremainder have a Lebanesebackground. Arabic is the fourthmost common non-Englishlanguage spoken in Australianhomes.

Australian-Lebanese play on activeand positive role in Australiansociety and have made notablecontributions in business andcommerce, politics, education,sport and the arts. They have astrong commitment to theiradopted country, Australia, whilecherishing their Lebanese culturaland ethnic heritage. Accordingly,

The TannourineAssociation of the

Lebanese community ofSydney.

are managed within the AustralianDepartment of Education, Science,and Training (DEST). The AEIGroup comprises three branches(Export Facilitation Branch,International Cooperation Branchand Educational StandardsBranch), a Business ManagementUnit and an International Networkof offshore offices associated withAustralian diplomatic and trademissions throughout the world.There were meetings with theDirector of the EducationRecognition Unit known as theNational Office of Overseas SkillsRecognition (NOOSR). NOOSRoffers an educational assessmentservice which assesses thecomparability of overseasqualifications to Australian awards.Educational assessments give anindication of the comparability ofthe educational level of aninstitution’s qualifications toAustralian educationalqualifications. Country EducationProfiles (CEPs) is a series ofbooklets describing theeducational systems of over 85countries and provides guidelineson the comparability ofqualifications in these countries toAustralian awards. A draftguideline for assessing

because of NDU’s feeling ofobligation and a personalAustralian-Lebanese affiliation,there is a strong need to enhancethe relations between these twogreat countries. Moreover, there isfelt a patriotic duty to encouragepeople to visit Lebanon and comeback to their roots. In particular,there is a feeling of urgency topromote NDU and initiate jointacademic programs with theprestigious institutions of highereducation in Australia.

In “Down-Under” the objective ofall contacts and visits – to theMinistry of Education, Lebanesereligious and government officials,Australian officials, schools,universities and educationalinstitutions – was to promote NotreDame University. The discussionsincluded introducing the NDUprograms of study and whatacademic support services NDUoffers. In addition, the SummerArabic Program and futureexchange programs werepromoted. The importance ofinitiating joint research projectsand exchange of internships wasstressed. Moreover, thereciprocation of programs washighlighted. Furthermore, thepossibility of establishing a Ph.D.program at NDU in collaborationwith any of these prominentAustralian institutions waswelcomed and the details of futureagreements will be specified byNDU and the individual institutionsafter the signing of aMemorandum of Understanding.

The first contact was with theMinistry of Education andAustralian Education International(AEI). AEI’s programs and services

qualifications of Lebaneseinstitutions as recognized by theAustralian government wasacquired. It was made clear that;NOOSR accredits NDU Bachelordegrees as equivalent to AustralianBachelor degrees. Notre DameUniversity-Louaize /Lady ofLoueizeh University, see NotreDame University [de] Louaizé, ison the official list of Universitiesrecognized by the AustralianMinistry of Education. This list ismade public and distributed to alleducational institutions.

A series of courtesy visits wasmade to Lebanese officials inAustralia. One was to theLebanese Embassy, with a longand productive meeting with H.E.the Consul General of Lebanon.He expressed extreme appreciationfor the mission to promote not onlythe educational system as reflectedby NDU but also to encouragepeople to visit Lebanon. Hedisplayed full support and statedthat such an activity must bepublicized not only in Australia butalso in Lebanon and he wouldinform the Ministry of ForeignAffairs of my activities.

The religious figures that I visitedwere His Lordship the MaroniteBishop of Australia, Aad AAbiKaram, who blessed my mission,the Metropolitan Archbishop,Primate of the AntiochianOrthodox Archdiocese of Australia,New Zealand and Dependencies,and the Most Reverend Bishop of

the Melkite Catholic Church ofAustralia and New Zealand, boththe latter expressing greatenthusiasm for the promotion ofeducation in Lebanon. They alsoshowed full support and blessedthe agenda.

One specific New Zealand city,Canterbury, which has beenclassified as the “City of CulturalDiversity”, is very active. Productivemeetings were conducted with theMayor of Canterbury City Council,with the General Manager, andwith the Deputy Mayor, Ms. FFadwaKebbe, who is of Lebanese origin.The Council members areplanning a visit to Lebanon as partof their “Sister City” program.Canterbury has a large Lebanesecommunity. An invitation wasextended for the delegation to visitNDU as part of their official visit.

The Association of Tannourine,comprising the families from thevillage of Tannourine, invited meto a gathering at which apresentation about NDU was givenwith a briefing about my activities.

The schools that were visited wereamong the most prominent.Rapport was established with theprincipals and administrators.NDU literature and the AdmissionsGuides were distributed for thestudents. A briefing of what NDUoffers was given and clarificationsmade by the AEI and NOOSRwere stressed. The followingschools are strictly Lebanese and

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the Vice-Chancellor and theInternational and DevelopmentCollege Manager. We discussedmany issues such as establishingcriteria for accreditation forexchange purposes, internshipsand the reciprocation ofknowledge. We also spoke aboutfuture programs that may beestablished including a Ph.D.program, but the stress was onjoint research projects. Anothermeeting was held with Dr. NijmehHajjar (Lebanese), who is with theSchool of Languages and Cultures.Dr. Hajjar was previously with theAustralian National University(ANU) and has visited NDU with agroup of students who took theSummer Arabic Program.

Another meeting was held with theDean of the Faculty of Businessand the International DevelopmentManager and the Health ScienceDepartment at Sydney University.They have a keen interest in theMiddle East and were veryimpressed with NDU. The BusinessFaculty is accredited by prominentinternational standards and theyhave the European QualityImprovement System. They are verystrict on alliances and very cautiouswith MOUs but they do want astrategic partner in the region. They

100% of the students areexpatriates: – St. Charbel’sCollege, St. Maroun’s School andOur Lady of Lebanon School.Among the other schools are StellaMaris College, The CasimirCatholic School, The Holy SpiritSchool, Collège de La Salle andthe Christian Brothers School.These have a student body ofwhich 55% is of Lebanese origin.The meetings were very effectiveand arrangements were made forfuture visits with scheduledorientation sessions with thestudents.

The universities and institutions ofhigher education were all veryenthusiastic and keen to establishcontact with the Middle East andespecially with Lebanon. All ofthem were glad to see someonefrom Lebanon taking this initiativeto enhance the educationalrelations between the two countries.They all expressed extremewillingness to establish contact andto proceed to a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with detailsto be determined between the twoinstitutions.

The University of Sydney is one ofthe most prominent universities inAustralia. A first meeting was with

ADMISSIONS IN ACTION

Press conference with prominent academicfigures from Various universities in Sydney,Australia.

ADMISSIONS IN ACTION

are very happy that NDU hasapproached them. We discussedpossible future joint projects. Theestablishment of a CPA programat NDU was suggested. All theofficials at Sydney University areready to visit NDU and takediscussions further.

Contact was made with theInternational Education Officer ofNotre Dame University in Perth. Itis a sister university with theAmerican Notre Dame of Illinois.We exchanged information anddiscussed future programs. Theyare very interested in establishingcontact with a Notre Dame in theMiddle East. Contact was alsoestablished with Curtin Universityand Griffith University in Perth.

The University of Queensland inBrisbane and The University ofTechnology in Queensland alsoexpressed great interest.

The University of New South Walesis another prominent institution.There were meetings with theAssociate Director of Study Abroadand the Program Mangers of shortcourses. They offer short programswhere students can go out with afaculty member for a certainresearch project or internships.

The Australian Catholic Universityis a multi-campus institution thatexcels in Nursing and Education. Ameeting was held with the Director

of International Education anddiscussions also covered issues ofimportance to both universities.Future course of action was alsoidentified, with other programs asArts, Theology and EnvironmentalSciences.

The Director of InternationalRelations at Macquarie Universityexplained that they are consideredto be the number one study-abroad destination in Australia.The meeting included the Directorof The Centre for Middle East andNorth African Studies, the Managerof International Development andthe Marketing Coordinator.Macquarie is also the home of theNational Centre for English. Theyhave a reputation for high-qualityprograms. There was greatenthusiasm for establishing anexchange program with NDU and Iwas given a draft MOU. Ourdiscussion was very effective.

Very productive discussions wereconducted with the InternationalCollege of Tourism and HotelManagement and with the BlueMountains Hotel ManagementSchool. The International Affairspersonnel were very interested inlearning more about NDU andwith follow-up; there is a positiveoutlook for future agreements.

The New South Wales Departmentof Education and Training initiatetechnical degrees and programs

across the state through the TAFE.There was a meeting with theInternational Consultant, who isalso Lebanese, and we had veryproductive talks about jointprograms. There is an urgent needto establish training centers andthe TAFE is willing to offer all thefacilities and resources.

NDU already has an agreementwith the University of WesternSydney. There were meetings withthe International Officer, the Deanof the College of Arts, Educationand Social Sciences and with theHead of the School of Languageand Linguistics. Discussions werealso conducted with the LanguageCourse Advisor. We spoke aboutfuture programs and plans.

The Australian-Lebanese Chamberof Commerce (ALC) has anexcellent reputation and is active inpromoting all facets of Lebanon.Words of gratitude are to beextended to President KKhattar,VP Mr. RRizk, Mr. MMurr, Miss OObeidand Dr. HHashem. They contributedgreatly to the overall success of thismission. Special appreciation goesout to Tile Depot/Colour Tile andAustralian Consulting Engineers fortheir full support.

SBS Radio conducted one interviewin Arabic. The broadcaster wasLebanese and it was organized bythe ALC and was met with vigour.

The Press Conference hadprominent newspapers that coverLebanon and the Arab World – AlNahar, Future, The Herald andThe Telegraph. The PressConference was attended byeducational, religious,governmental and businessofficials. NDU literature and pressreleases in both English andArabic were distributed. A generaloverview of Lebanon andEducation was given and NDUfacts and statistics were offered.The objectives of the visit toAustralia were listed. The feedbackof my visits and what we aim for inthe future were mentioned and wespoke about the establishment ofthe Friends of NDU. This waswarmly welcomed.

In general, the recruitment andpromotional visit to Australia wasan extremely fruitful event. Theobjectives were met and there willdefinitely be follow-up visits with allthose concerned. We wish the bestfor Lebanon and Australia andhope that these two great nationswill prosper always.

Thereafter, there was a recruitmentvisit to Amman, Jordan, whereabout fifteen schools were visited.Orientation sessions were givenand application forms werecompleted.

The Admissions Office alsoparticipated in the annual GETEX

(Gulf Education and TrainingExhibition) in Dubai, UAE. Therewere over 350 universities,institutions and trainingorganizations from all over theworld and more than 20,000people visited this year. NDUexposure was exceptional andmany contacts were made. Inaddition, schools in Dubai, AbiDhabi and Sharjah were visited.

As members of the NAFSA, theAssociation of InternationalEducation, the Admissions Officeattended the 57th annualConference that was held inSeattle, Washington this year. Thetheme of this year’s conferencewas “Opening Minds to the GlobalCommunity”. There were over6,000 accomplished colleaguesfrom more than 90 countries.Fresh ideas and new skills wereacquired from workshops thatrevitalized knowledge-basedstrategies. Inspiration was offeredby renowned speakers and activistsand new perspectives were sharedamong colleagues who face thesame challenges in education.Most importantly, the networkingwas a very promising opportunityto capitalize on tomorrow’sinternational education andexchange.

Another annual event that theAdmissions Office attended wasthe NAM (National Apostolate ofMaronites) convention in San

Diego; again a very successfulnetworking procedure that hasrecruited students from USA tocome to NDU and especially forthe Summer Arabic Program.

It has been another very fruitfulacademic year both inside andoutside Lebanon. Overall, morethan 300 schools were visited bythe Admissions Office of MainCampus, NLC and SC. Now it istime to end one academic yearand start another; applications for2005-2006 are being submitted.

During 2004-2005, weexperienced success with theAssociation of Directors ofAdmissions and Orientationorganizing School Forums inTripoli, Akkar, Saida and Zahle.We have plans to expand ouractivities during 2005-2006. Weare coordinating well with eachother, keeping “healthycompetition” our goal. In addition,we are collaborating with theSecretary General of the CatholicSchools in Lebanon to enhancerelationship between our schoolsand universities.

We wish you all continued successand good health and theAdmissions Office wishes NDUcontinued prosperity anddevelopment. The AdmissionsOffice Staff are to be thanked fortheir efforts: Miss PPascale AAbi RRizk,Mrs. KKarine SSaadeh, Mrs. MMirnaSfeir, Mr. MMario KKozaily, MissMarise AAbboud, Miss NNancy RRizk,and Mr. FFarid HHaykal.

God bless you and may the BlessedVirgin guide us always. See you nextyear!

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The workshop, organised by theNDU Water, Energy andEnvironment Research Centeer(WEERC) in association withMeditate and in cooperation withthe School of Water Sciences atCranfield University, UK, was heldin the Pierre Abou Khatter Hallbetween Thursday and Friday the9th and 10th of June, 2005.

The first workshop process wasentitled Construction of a livelihoodvision, Social and EconomicDevelopment. The second process,held in the afternoon, dealt withHow water supports social andeconomic development.

The third workshop process, heldin the morning of Friday, dealtwith implications of water use,trade-off and conflicts, to define aBusiness as usual Scenario andthen the boundary condition forextreme scenario.

MEDITATE is an acronym formedfrom MEditerranean Developmentof Innovative Technologies for

intergrAted waTer managEment.Mr PPhilippe KKer RRault says theMEDITATE project aims atdeveloping water scarcitymanagement in the Mediterraneancatchment, using karst submarinesprings, desalination and re-use.The aim of the NDU workshop wasto build a water vision andscenario of social and economicdrivers. Work Package 2 wasdevoted to the socio-economicanalysis of water demand,availability and needs.

Mediterranean countries have longexperience of water scarcity and itsmanagement, and nowgovernments are facing increasingdemands. Karst aquifers are aninteresting potential source of highvalue, so far under-exploited. Forcountries without them, integratedwater management is a keysystem, using various alternativesystems such as re-use anddesalination. Such planning is thecore of the MEDITATE project.

Work Package 2 aims at watergovernance and improved use bysocial surveys and cost-effectiveness analysis,concentrating on the vision for2025 to determine the scenarios tobe used in WP4. The foundationfor WP2 is the data about case-study areas, their politicalcircumstances, socio-economiccondition, ecological and sanitaryrecords, and geographical anddemographical backgrounds. TheWP2 inter-disciplinary tram has toconduct research in a way that canfinally produce a comparativeanalysis.

Philippe KKer RRault Work Package 2Coordinatorp.kerrault@cranfield.ac.uk

WEERC Workshopfor Chekka pilot area

WEERC

Children of Lebanese Migrants inAustralia: Issues and Challengeswas the title of a lecture organisedby the Lebanese EmigrationResearch Center (LERC), under thepatronage of Her ExcellencyStephanie SShwabsky, Ambassadorof Australia to Lebanon. Thelecture, held on Thursday, April7th, 2005, in the NDU MainCampus Auditorium, wasmoderated by Dr. AAmal SSaleebyMalek, Assistant Professor in theFaculty of Humanities, andpresented by Dr. RRosemarySuliman, Senior Lecturer at theUniversity of Western Sydney,Bankstown.

Dr. Suliman is a pioneer in thefield of teaching Arabic inAustralia; she has also gained areputation for her contribution tocurriculum and syllabusdevelopment, as well as fortraining teachers in the field oflanguage-teaching methodology.In addition to internationalrecognition, her hard work has sofar earned her the Australian

Arabic Women’s Award, in 1999,as well as the UWS ViceChancellor’s Award for SocialJustice, in 2004.

Dr. Suliman stressed the issue ofLebanese children’s poor schoolachievement in Australian schoolsas compared to that of otherstudents of both English and non-English-speaking background. Herstudy targeted a total of 271 “year9” students in three high schools insouth-western Sydney: an all-boysschool, an all-girls school and aco-educational school. Thenumber of Lebanese students inthese schools amounted to 117,most of whom were Australian-born, although only 11.8% of theirfathers were born in Australia.Hardly ever, however, had theparents of these childrencompleted their education and

only 7.8% of Lebanese fatherswere in professional orparaprofessional jobs.

Dr. Suliman rejected the theoriesaccording to which the Lebanesestudents were performing poorlybecause of family ffactors alone,that is to say the family’s socio-economic background and familyculture and values, which at timesdid not encourage education, andthe mismatch between school andhome culture, “because in someinstances the minorities who differmore in language and culturefrom the dominant group are theones who are more successful atschool,” and because “theLebanese are the dominant culturein those schools, since almost 76%of the schools’ population isLebanese,” Dr. Suliman added.

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LERC NewsChildren of LebaneseMigrants in AustraliaLecture by Dr. Rosemary Suliman

From Left to right:Dr. Suliman’s son,H.E. Ambassador

Stephanie Shwabsky,Dr. Suliman and her

husband.

Dr. Suliman however gave muchmore credit to the assumptionaccording to which historical aandsocial ffactors very much determineschool performance. Theoppositional cultural frame ofreference the Lebanese studentshave come to develop, and whichother migrant students have not, ismainly due to the distinctionbetween autonomous iimmigrantminorities and caste-llikeminorities. Immigrant minoritiesare those who “moved more orless voluntarily to their hostsociety”; they perceive schoolcredentials as a key toadvancement and eventuallyachieve upward mmobility. However,caste-like minorities are theminorities which become“incorporated into a society moreor less involuntarily andpermanently through slavery,conquest or colonization and areexploited by the dominant group”and that is when these immigrantminorities’ children experiencedownward aassimilation.

The third wave of Lebaneseemigrants adhere to the lastgroup, not because they werepersecuted and exploited butbecause of certain reasons towhich Dr. Suliman attributes thisbitter reality, namely the littleeconomic security that thesemigrants had upon arrival inAustralia, their limited literacy,their hope of returning to Lebanon

once the war was over, the chainmigration with the tendency tosettle close to each other withoutfeeling the need to becomeinvolved in the major institutions ofthe country’s life and, to makematters worse, the economicdepression in Australia.

The Lebanese-born are the sixthlargest immigrant group in Sydney,most of whom arrived over aperiod of about six years (with athousand immigrants arriving eachmonth), placing financial andsocial burdens on the existingLebanese-born population. Thechildren of this last group ofLebanese immigrants were born inAustralia, but of parents whomigrated during the 1970’s andwho lived through the aftermath ofthe Gulf War, September 11, andthe Iraqi War. In addition to theseimmigrants’ poor economic andwelfare conditions, third-phaseLebanese-Australians also sufferfrom the “be loyal or go backhome” syndrome which reflects theAustralian community’s tendencyto accuse them of being disloyal toAustralia and of threatening itssocial cohesion. According to Dr.

Suliman, the situation becameworse with September 11 and witha number of local offencescommitted by members of theLebanese community in Sydney. Asa result, Lebanese youth “stayLebanese together” and regard“Aussies” with disrespect.

Dr. Suliman concluded her talk ona very positive note, stating thatrecently the problems of theLebanese youth had beenaddressed by the Lebanese groupsand associations throughout NewSouth Wales with the help of thegovernment bodies. The mainobjectives of these projects wereproviding parent/family support;improving communication betweenparents of non-English-speakingbackground and the schools; andimproving literacy and numericalskills, as well as establishing aTutorial Centre and homeworkcenters at some schools. Thepromotion of positive images ofthe Lebanese communities wasalso on the agenda.

Report by Marie-José Tayah,International Affairs and Diplomacy Student

Dr. Rosemary Suliman addresses her specialised audience.

LERC ForumResidents and Emigrants: Togetherfor a New Lebanon and a NewGeneration

This title well indicates the theme of the important forum heldat Notre Dame University, Zouk Campus, on Wednesday andThursday, May 4th and 5th, 2005, by the Lebanese EmigrationCenter (LERC) of NDU in cooperation with the Student Cabinet.It was distinguished by speakers who included eminentpersonalities and specialists.

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At the opening session starting at9.00 a.m. on Wednesday, thespeakers were Mr. SSuheil MMatar,NDU Director General of PublicRelations, Reverend FFather BBoutrosTarabay, NDU President,Dr. Ameen AAlbert RRihani, V.-P. forSponsored Research andDevelopment, Ms. GGuita HHourani,Associate Director of LERC,Mr. Rock CChlala, President of theStudent Cabinnet, and GeneralMichel AAoun speaking fromoverseas.

The first session, starting at 11.15,had as its title, “Is there a UnifiedCitizen Concept for LebaneseResidents and Emigrants?” Themoderator was Mrs. MMay CChidiac,LBC Anchor. The speakers wereMr. PPierre GGemayel, M.P.,Mr. Ibrahim KKanaan, Head of theInternational Affairs and RelationsCommittee of the Beirut Lawyers’Syndicate, Mr. RRoland KKhoury,President of the Youth Committeeand Student Affairs in the Free

Mr. Gebran TTueni, GeneralDirector of the An-Naharnewspaper, Mr. RRaedSharafeddine, Professor ofLeadership and StrategicManagement and Board Memberof the Imam Al-Sadr Foundations,and Dr. AAbdo KKahi, Professor andCoordinator of the NDU LebaneseCenter for Social Research,

Outside speakers were Dr. HHadiaHaikal-MMukhtar, Fellow of theRoyal Australian College ofGeneral Practitioners, andDr. Rashid RRahmeh, Fellow of the(British) Royal College of Surgeons,Vice President of the PoliticalCouncil of the Lebanese ForcesAbroad, and World Vice Presidentof the World Cultural LebaneseUnion.

Lunch was at 2.00 p.m. and at3.30 the third session opened withLBC Anchor Mr. WWalid AAbboud asModerator. The subject was“Migration and Democracy inLebanon and the Middle East”.The speakers were Mr. NNazem eel-Khoury, M.P., Dr. MMichel NNehmeh,Dean of Political Science, PublicAdministration and Diplomy atNDU, Dr. YYoussef KKamal eel-HHage,Professor of Physics and

Patriotic Movement, Mr. EEdgarBarakat, Head of ContinuingEducation at NDU and ReformistKataeb President of Student Affairs,Elie SShamoun, National LiberalParty President of Student Affairs,Mr. OOmar HHarqous, DemocraticSocialist Party President of StudentAffairs, and Mr. NNader AAl NNaqeeb,President of Student Affairs in theMustaqbal (Future) Party.

There were two outside speakers,namely Dr. SSami AAoun, Professorof Political Science, University ofSherbrooke, Canada, andDr. Richard KKoyomjian, Member ofthe Political Council of theLebanese Forces Abroad,Washington.

“The Role of Education and theMedia in the Development ofCitizenship” was the theme of thesecond session, which started at11.30 with Mr. RRafiq KKhoury,Editor-in-Chief of Al-Anwar, asModerator. The speakers were

philosophy researcher, Dr. PPaulSalem, Director of the FaresFoundation, and Mr. EEliot EEngel,Member of the US Congress fromoutside.

On Thursday at 9.15 a.m. thefourth session opened with LBCAnchor Mr. TToni SSalameh asModerator. The theme of thissession was “Connecting LebaneseEmigrants with the Economy ofLebanon: Reality and Aspiration”.The speakers were Mr. NNabil IItani,Chairman and General Managerof the Investment DevelopmentAuthority of Lebanon (IDAL),Mr. Nassib GGhobril, economistand researcher on migrants’remittances, Mr. PPierre AAshkar,President of the Lebanese HotelAssociation and CEO of HotelMonroe, Dr. EElie YYachoui’, NDUDean of Business Administrationand Economics, and Dr. RRiadAweida, partner of Aweida &Co.,Management ConsultancyDivision. Mr. PPaul MMichael WWihbey,President of Global Water &Energy Strategy Team,Washington, D.C. and Mr. NNickDagher, businessman in SouthAfrica, spoke from outside.

At 10.30 the fifth session, withMr. Walid Abboud again asModerator, dealt with the subjectof “Electoral Systems Used inLebanon as Compared to thoseUsed in the World”. The speakerswere Mr. KKamal FFeghali, electionspecialist, Mr. NNawwaf aalMoussawi, Head of International

Relations of the Hizbullah Partyand member of its Political Bureau,The HHon. DDr. YYoussef SSaadallahel-KKhoury, former President of theState Shawra Council and DirectorGeneral of Legal andAdministrative Affairs in theLebanese Presidency, Dr. AAhmadFatfat, M.P., Mr. NNaji aal-BBoustany,M.P., former Minister, and fromoutside Mr. RRamzi aal-RRihani,President of Friends of NDU in theUSA.

At midday the sixth session openedwith Dr. ZZiad NNjeim, Anchor at Al-Hurra, as Moderator. The themewas “Lebanese Emigrants’ Right toVote”. Speakers were Mr. GGhassanMokheiber, M.P., Mr. NNematallahAbi NNasr, M.P., Mr. SSamirFranjiyeh of the Qornet ShehwanGathering, and The HHon. JJosephL. BBoohaker, judge, Birmingham,USA, and from outside, Mr. TTouficBaaklini, member of Friends ofNDU, Washington, andMr. George BBeshara, businessmanand former President of WorldLebanese Cultural Union, Mexico.

At 3.30 after lunch the seventhsession opened with Mrs. SShazaOmar, LBC Anchor, as Moderator.The title was “The LebaneseEmigration Lobby and the UNInternational Resolutions”.Speakers were Dr. AAbdallah AAbouHabib, former Ambassador to theUnited States and currently adviserto former Deputy Prime MinisterIssam Fares, Dr. FFares SSeaid, M.P.,H.E. tthe EErudite SSheikh

Mohammed HHussein aal-AAmeen,Mr. GGebran BBassil, Member of theCommittee for PoliticalCommunication in the FreePatriotic Movement, Mr. TTonyHaddad, President of the LebaneseAmerican Council for Democracy,and from outside Ms. IIleana-RRosLehtinen, Member of the AmericanCongress.

The closing session started at 4.45p.m., with Mr. ZZahi WWehbeh asModerator and Mr. TToniNasrallah, lawyer and member ofthe Media Committee of the FreePatriotic Movement. There was around table with Mr. WWalid EEido,M.P., Dr. MMosbah aal-AAhdab, M.P.,Dr. KKhaled HHadadeh, GeneralSecretary of the LebaneseCommunist Party, Mr. NNaamanMrad, founding member of theNational Union of Students,Mr. Habib YYounes, journalist,Mr. Ramzi KKanj, representative ofthe Free Patriotic Movement,Mr. Eddy AAbillama, Representativeof the Lebanese Forces, andMr. Hikmat DDeeb, representative ofthe Free Patriotic Movement. Therewas also an external interventionby Ms. RRegina SSneifer, journalistand geopolitical analyst, speakingfrom France.

At 5.45 p.m. the followingpresented recommendations andconclusions: Dr. AAmeen AAlbertRihani, Ms. GGuita HHourani,Dr. Abbdo KKahi, Father BBoulosWehbe, Director of the NDUStudent Affairs Office, andMs. Betty HHindi, ForumCoordinator.

Ms. VValerie AAoun of NDU was incharge of the simultaneousinterpretation team.

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4th Millennial Lecture Series2004-2005

referring in particular to theproblems of Islamic society infacing the question of the relationbetween science and religion. Headmitted that he was not givingthe United States as the bestmodel, for there also there werereligious fundamentalists, in thiscase of Christian tradition.

Dr. BBoulos SSarru’, Dean of theFaculty of Humanities, with abiblical and Miltonic background,took up the theme of ParadiseLost. Referring to the particularroles of Adam and of Eve, he saidthat there was the question ofwhether the forbidden fruit was asatanic or divine device to developrationality. After what the audiencehad just heard, they mightconsider the question of thecomplementarity of science andreligion, while there was a need togo beyond the individual. HereDr. Sarru’ delved into Greeklexicography and the meaning ofmeta, beyond, key to the activity ofthe Metanexus Institute.

Religion/Science Interface: Explorations

On Tuesday, 16th April, 2005,Dr. Doumit SSalameh, Chair of theDepartment of Social andBehavioral Studies, Faculty ofHumanities, presented Dr. WWilliamGrassie, who gave a talk onUniversal Reason: Religion and theFoundations of Civil Society.

William “Billy” Grassie, Ph.D., isfounder and executive director ofthe Metanexus Institute on Religionand Science (www.metanexus.net),which currently runs some 300projects at universities in 36countries. He also serves asexecutive director of the Institute’sonline magazine and discussionforum with over 140,000 monthlypage views and over 6,000subscribers in 57 differentcountries. He has taught at TempleUniversity, Swarthmore Collegeand the University of Pennsylvania.Grassie received his doctorate inreligion from Temple University in1994 after a BA from MiddleburyCollege in 1979. Prior to graduateschool, he worked for ten years inreligiously-based social service and

advocacy organisations inWashington, D.C., Jerusalem,Berlin and Pennsylvania, P.A.. Heis the recipient of a number ofacademic awards and grants fromthe American Friends ServiceCommittee, the RoothbertFellowship and the JohnTempleton Foundation. He is amember of the Society of Friends(Quakers), famous for both theiropposition to war and their heroichumanitarian service on theworld’s most dangerousbattlefields.

Introducing the speaker,Dr. Doumit Salameh alluded to theinfluence of Tertullian onphilosophical and religiousthinking and spoke of the influenceof Plato and Aristotle favouring acorrect balance between the oneand the many in Jewish, Muslimand Christian thought, against thetendency to reduce religion to aquestion of psychological state.

Dr. William Grassie developed thethemes of the Metanexus Institute,

Dr. William Grassie onUniversal Reason: Religion and theFoundations of Civil Society

As usual, there was keendiscussion on the floor andafterwards during refreshments.

The ffollowing iinformationconcerning MMetanexus hhas bbeenkindly pprovided bby DDr. EEdwardAlam. IIt ccomes ffrom ttheintroduction tto aa sspecial iissue oofPalma, wwith ssome oomissions aandediting. AA rreport oon tthe ttalk ggivenby DDr. EEric WWeislogel wwill bbe ffoundin iissue 332 oof NNDU Spirit.

The second volume in the specialseries edition of NDU Palma bringsto publication both the formal andinformal presentations made byvarious scholars, primarily fromNDU’s Communio/LSI Study Circle,from 2002-2005, which grew outof NDU Lebanon’s CommunioStudy Circle, which was establishedin 1996 by Dr. Edward J. Alam, anAssociate Professor of Philosophyat Notre Dame Univeristy, Louaize,Lebanon. Like other CommunioStudy Circles worldwide, the groupmeets monthly to discuss articlesfrom the International CatholicReview, Communio. NDU’sCommunio Study Circle has beenparticularly interested in books andarticles that address the relationbetween faith and reason.Members take turns in presentingarticles from the journal to thegroup, though all members cometo the meetings prepared by their

own thorough reading and studyof the article. In the February,2003 meeting, Dr. Alam presentedThomas Howard’s Providence inC.S. Lewis’ “Space” Triology fromthe Fall 2002 edition ofCommunio. As a result of thisparticular presentation, the groupgradually became more and moreaware of the importance of thereligion/science dialogue, as thetheme of “providence” naturallyleads in so many ways to theintersection between science(especially the natural sciences)and faith. The group then decidedto apply for funding from theMetanexus foundation of Religionand Science in Philadelphia(www.metanexus.net), which boastsof 300 projects with colleges anduniversities in 37 countries, tosupport the establishment ofanother study group that wouldfocus on themes related to thereligion/science dialogue. Thegroup was awarded a three-yeargrant and took the name NDU’sCommunio/Local Society Initiative(LSI) study circle. The group heldmonthly meetings during its firstyear of funded activity, andproduced television programs onTélélumière, Lebanon, during itssecond year of funded activity.Both the Communio Study Circleand the Communio/LSI StudyCircle boast of a rich diversity intheir member’s religious

convictions and in their areas ofexpertise. Christian and Muslimscholars from various academicdisciplines and from variousinstitutions in Lebanon are involvedin these activities. The group hasEastern-Rite Catholics (Maronitesand Melkites}, Eastern Orthodox,Mennonites and Sunni and ShiiteMuslims, from various departmentsof Physics, Behavioral Science,Philosophy, Theology, PoliticalScience, and Computer Science.Finally, a word of special thanksgoes to Dr. William Grassie,Founder and Executive Director ofthe Metanexus Institute, andDr. Eric Weislogel, Director of theMetanexus Local Society Initiative,both of whom visited Lebanonduring the 2004-2005 academicyear to show support for the NDUCommunio/LSI Local Society, andwho delivered lectures in NDU’sMillennial Lecture Series. Theselectures are also published here.(EJA)

Excerpts from the NDUCommunio/LSI Annual Reportfor 2003-2004As the initial installment check of$5,000.00 was not cashed untilthe end of December, the groupfinally began its proposed activitiesin January, 2004, with seriousplanning at a meeting involving allthe members of the group. The

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Millennial Lecture Series

first seminar took place onFebruary 12, 2004 beginningpromptly at 8:30 a.m. with ageneral introduction by the group’schairman, Edward Alam,addressing (1) the reasons why hebelieved NDU was awardedfunding,(2) the execution of thestated proposal and (3) the three-year plan. Dr. Alam thenintroduced the group to thethought of Stanley L. Jaki, relyingheavily on Jaki’s latest work, AMind’s Matter: An IntellectualBiography. In January, the grouphad decided to begin its readingactivities with Jaki’s Miracles andPhysics, rather than with TheRelevance of Physics, as theoriginal proposal stated. Theprogression of the formercorresponded better to the idea ofgetting a crash course in Physicsfrom two of the group’s ablephysicists, Dr. Roger Hajjar andDr. Yussef El-Hage, who wanted tomeet the goals of the statedproposal by dividing up theirpresentations into Physics “before”the twentieth century and Physics“in” the twentieth century. Thechairman decided to put off thereading of the text until the group’snon-physicist members could getre-acquainted with the majormovements in physics over the lastthree centuries, since this was oneof the stated goals for the firstyear. Thus, by 11:00 am, Dr.

Roger Hajjar began his two hourpresentation titled GainingPerspectives: A Crash Course inNewton, Part One. Part two of thesession continued at 3:00 p.m.and was much of the same andended with this important insight,quite startling to some: Newtonianphysics was not totally and utterly“absolute,” but had an importantdimension of “relativity.” TheMarch meeting took placefollowing roughly the same formatof the February meeting, with Dr.Edward Alam giving a thoroughpresentation of both theIntroduction and the first chapter ofMiracles and Physics. In theafternoon Dr. Yussef El-Hagepresented Beyond Newton:Einstein’s Relativity and otherRelative Matters. Just as the“relative” dimension in Newton’sphysics came as a surprise tosome members of the groupduring the previous seminar, sotoo did the “absolute” dimensionof Einstein’s theory of relativitycome as a surprise to othermembers. Dr. El-Hage stressedthat Einstein’s great discoveryreally consisted in seeing that if thespeed of light was taken as“absolute”, independent even of itssource, then the form and“beauty” of Maxwell’s equationscould be left intact. Bothpresentations attacked the ideathat Einstein’s theory of relativity

could be the basis of any sort ofrelativity theory in ethics, as somemoral philosophers and othershave suggested. On March 31,2004, the group worked on thenarrative for the supplementarygrant, wherein they studied andapplied the then recently publishedUNDP’s Arab Human DevelopmentReport of 2003. The third all-dayseminar took place on April 13,2004 with the Reverend Ross Freypresenting chapter two of Miraclesand Physics in the morning andDr. Yussef El-Hage making apresentation on Heisenberg’sInevitable Imprecision of AtomicMeasurements during theafternoon session. In May of 2004,the group’s chairman made aninformal presentation of his paper,“Philosophy, The Only Solid BridgeBetween Religion and Science”, tothe group in order to get theirfeedback before traveling toPhiladelphia for the annualconference, where he presentedthe paper. On June 22, 2004,Dr. Alam reported back to thegroup on the activities that tookplace during the annualMetanexus conference, and somemembers watched a portion of theC.D. of the last annual conference,which he had purchased duringthe conference. The bulk of theJune 22 2004 meeting consisted ina highly charged and interestingdiscussion of Friedrich’s

Dürrenmatt’s award-winning play,The Physicists, which the membershad been assigned to read inJanuary. Dr. Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, a political scientist,presented the play. Hispresentation was extremelyinsightful, as he had studied theplay in Germany in the originalGerman while earning his M.A. inGerman literature. Although noregular meetings took place duringthe summer months, the groupagreed to read Jaki’s The Savior ofScience. In September, the group’schairman met with the ExecutiveDirector, Mr. RRaymond FF. NNader,of Noursat/Télélumière T.V.Station, a Catholic televisionstation and asked whether thestation, would be interested inbeginning a new program dealingwith the relationship betweenreligion and science, with Arabicsubtitles, dedicated to thereligion/science interface, thatwould be broadcast worldwide aswell as in the Middle East. Duringthe many discussions of this issuethe idea emerged of inviting theDirector of the LSI of theMetanexus Institute, Dr. EricWeislogel, to Lebanon, as a way ofkicking off the program.Dr. Weislogel graciously acceptedthe invitation and on the 15th ofOctober, Dr. Weislogel deliveredthe opening lecture at Notre DameUniversity’s Millennial Lecture

Series to an impressive audienceof about one hundred persons.The talk generated much interestin the idea of being part of aninternationally active community ofscholars, laypeople, and clergy,dedicated to the promotion of thereligion/science dialogue as a wayof restoring a badly needed unityto both scholarly and religious life.On October 16, Dr. Weislogel metwith Dr. HHabib MMalik andDr. Richard KKhuri, both of whomare professors at LebaneseAmerican University. Dr. HabibMalik is the son of the late CharlesMalik, who was one of theprincipal drafters of the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights, andwho was President of the thirteenthsession of the United Nation’sGeneral Assembly. Habib is deeplyinterested in the relation betweenreligion and science, in general,and in the relation between theCatholic Church and Astronomy,in particular, just as his father,Charles, was.

Dr. Khuri has an internationalreputation for his publications inphilosophy and in the philosophyof science. His book, Freedom,Modernity, and Islam:Toward a Creative Synthesis is a

remarkable discussion of thephilosophical roots of the conceptof freedom in both the West and inIslam. And his work on the essenceof emergence as related todevelopments in contemporaryphysics is indeed cutting-edgephilosophy of science. Dr. Alam,Dr. Malik, Dr. Khuri, andDr. Weislogel had a round-tablediscussion on the religion/sciencedialogue, which was televised byNoursat/Télélumière. As a result oftheir meetings with Mr. Nader andMr. KKallas, General Manager andpart owner ofNoursat/Télélumière, the stationdecided to make a religion/scienceprogram oone of their chief long-term priorities. On October 20,Dr. Weislogel met with themembers of NDU’s LSI group, andin his closing remarks to the groupDr. Weislogel was genuinelymoved by what the members hadshared with him. In his own words,“the meeting confirmed myconviction that what we are doingat Metanexus can (and alreadyhas) really changed the world forthe better.”

Millennial Lecture Series

Physics Curriculum in the LNCRSScience, Technology andInnovation Programmes (STIP), aswell as acting as coordinator forthe University Committee forScientific Research. He developeda project for a Transfaculty,Transdisciplinary Doctoral Schoolfor Science Technology and HealthSciences which was established in2005. He delivers lectures oninvitation, free of charge, onPhysics, Environmental Science,History and Philosophy of Science,Lateral Thinking, Science Teaching,Evaluation and associated subjects.

Introducing the speaker,Dr. Doumit Salameh in the chairreferred to ancient Alexandria,where the conflict between Greekthought represented by Philo’sphilosophy, and Christian theologyrepresented by Tertullian, resultedin a rich mixture that prepared theway for the two dominant ChristianFathers of the Church, namelyAugustine and Aquinas amongothers.

Dr. Bechara said that whenpreparing his talk, Tertullian’sphrase about Athens andJerusalem struck him as the perfecttitle. He went on to define scientificthought and religious thought andtheir relationship, adding that thescientific method could not havedeveloped in a world dominatedby pantheism instead of by beliefin one transcendent Creator thanksto Judaism and Christianity inparticular.

Dr. Bechara declared that he wasnot himself a religious believer,unlike other speakers in the series.But he did believe that religion,like science, had its distinctive andcomplementary role to play. Forexample, science could studycloning, at least with animals, butit was for religion to deal with themoral aspects. It could alsooppose the prejudices that falsifyscience, which cannot be taken outof its cultural context. The work ofscience was to explain observablephenomena but it could not reachabsolute truth. The reality behindphenomena was inaccessible toscience.

The scope of religion lay in faith,and the object of faith was God,and its content was knowledgeabout God. The Church must dowhat it does best, and one thing itcould do was to purify science.

Dr. BBoulos SSarru’, Dean ofHumanities, wittily thanked thespeaker for dealing with a spherethat always leaves more questionsthan it gives answers. Science andFaith crossed, diverged andcrossed again.

Dr. Bechara dealt with questionsfrom the floor, coming fromacademics who often did not sharehis personal attitude to faith butdid share his belief in openness ofmind and the need forunderstanding different opinions,and the very agreeableinterchange continued duringrefreshments.

1918

Dr. Joseph Bechara onWhat does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?

At 5 p.m. on Friday, 20th May,2005, Dr. JJoseph BBechara spokein Friends’ Hall at the invitation ofthe Department of Social andBehavioral Studies, Faculty ofHumanities, in the framework ofthe 4th Millennial Lecture Series onthe Religion/Science Interface, withthe Department head, Dr. DDoumitSalameh in the chair.

Doctor Bechara is Chairman of thePhysics Department of theLebanese University and Directorof the LU Franco-LebaneseDoctoral School for Sciences,Technology and Health (STS), aswell as Director of the APpoLOSResearch Laboratory, Faculty ofSciences. After graduation heobtained a scholarship forgraduate studies and specialisedwith a Master in Optoelectronicsand a Ph.D. in Laser Physics. Afterwork in the U.K., Germany andCanada, he returned to Lebanonin 1994 and joined the LU PhysicsDepartment, founding a researchlaboratory in Laser and OpticalSpectroscopy with a grant from theLNCRS. He developed a novelstrategy for the development ofresearch capacities in the Facultyof Sciences, culminating in theestablishment in 2002 of a Masterin Nanostructures and SmartMaterials. He has authored andpublished much in these fields,supervising over thirty Master andPh.D. theses. Dr. Becharaparticipated in the developmentand implementation of the New

Millennial Lecture Series

Cross Cultural Symposiumat NDU

Five instructors from the AmericanUniversity (AU) in Washington, D.C.,joined their colleague Ms. BrigidMaher, a Fullbright Scholar who isteaching this semester at NDU, forthe Symposium organized byMs. Maher and the Department ofMass Communication, Faculty ofHumanities, from May 26 to 28, atNDU’s main campus in ZoukMosbeh. The guests presented aseries of lectures and workshops in

various areas such as filmmaking,photography, new media technology,public diplomacy, and media studies.Some faculty members and studentsfrom the Department of MassCommunication also presented theirwork during the Symposium. Manystudents, faculty members, andguests from outside the Universityattended. Following is a rundown ofthe Symposium’s proceedings:

Hosting Professors from the AmericanUniversity, Washington, DC

In session one, Professor LLeenaJayaswal from AU gave a visualpresentation on the history ofmanipulation and lies thatphotographs have represented andthe ethical choices surrounding themaking and the interpretation ofthe single image.

In session two, Justin SSchaublefrom AU gave a visualpresentation on the new mediatechnology and how it reshapesthe way media outlets andindividuals share news and ideaswith the public.

In session three, Dr. RRhondaZahrana and Dr. CCynthia KKing of

> Thursday, May 26: Dr. DDoumitSalameh, Acting Dean of theFaculty of Humanities, opened theconference on behalf of DeanBoulos SSarru’, and said that withthe many things that Lebanon andthe U.S. have in common, it onlymakes sense for there to be agenuine partnership between thesetwo societies at various levels, andmore specifically a partnership fora global human welfare based onhuman dignity, transcending butnot ignoring race, creed, and otherfeatures of the cultures concerned.Dr. JJoseph AAjami, Chairman of theDepartment of MassCommunication, welcomed theparticipants and guests and spokeabout NDU’s endeavors in keeping

up with the communicationindustry’s latest trends andtechnologies. Dr. Ajami alsoexpressed his hope that thissymposium would plant the seedfor future collaboration with theAmerican University in Washingtonas well as with other educationalinstitutions worldwide.

The opening ceremony wasattended by Dr. AAmeen AA. RRihani,Vice-President for Research andDevelopment, Mr. SSuheil MMatar,Director of Public Relations,Dr. Assaad EEid, Dean of theFaculty of Architecture, Arts andDesign, faculty members, studentsand guests.

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AU discussed Public Diplomacy,comparing it to traditionaldiplomacy and to propaganda.They also examined theimportance of symbols, images,and messages in public diplomacyand their potential impact onpolitical changes. Dr. Kingexplored the role grassrootscommunication campaigns canplay to prevent violent expressionof social tensions, as recently inVenezuela, Ukraine and Lebanon.

In the afternoon, Professor RRandalPacker, artist, composer, andeducator, conducted a workshopon mobile web-log or “Mob-logging” as Artistic Reportage

whereby he and some NDUstudents presented their visualaccount of a day spent with asample of Lebanese citizens in thestreets of Tripoli and in downtownBeirut.

Professor Leena Jayaswal,Chairperson of the PhotographyDepartment at AU, conducted aworkshop about “Identity Politics inthe Arts”. The presentationshowcased some artists’ works thatfocus on identity as a centraltheme. Contemporary artists havebeen challenging the notions ofculture and gender by investigatingand critiquing stereotypes.

Thursday’s events concluded with a90-minute night screening thatfeatured the works of the guestartists from the AmericanUniversity. Included in the sessionwere a video of still pictures takenby Mr. Schauble, who is also amember of the White HousePhotographers Association, a videoof Dr. Jayaswal’s collection ofphotos from India, land of herancestors, and a satirical videodone by Dr. Packer in theaftermath of President Bush’ssecond-term inauguration.

> Friday, May 27: the day startedwith a presentation by Mr. KKamalDarouny, Assistant Professor ofAdvertising, on SatelliteCommunications in the ArabWorld. He analyzed the change inhabits imposed by the newsuperhighway and multimediatechnology that affected thelifestyles of the peoples of theregion.Advertising and Marketing studentspresented their Senior Project tothe audience, including individualpresentations examining themethodology, creative concepts,media planning, promotionalstrategy and public relationsaspects of the campaign.

In the third session on Friday, afollow-up discussion on publicdiplomacy’s strategy and tactics forLebanon and other countries in theMediterranean and the ArabWorld was led by Dr. Zaharna andDr. King.

The afternoon started with apresentation by one of NDU’sgraduate students, Mr. SSergeDagher, who talked aboutpropaganda techniques of bothAmericans and Iraqis during theearly stages of the American

invasion of Iraq two years ago.Dr. Khaled EEl-FFakih, AssociateProfessor at NDU, introduced thesubject and the speaker.

Professor PPacker’s presentationunveiled the results of his mob-logcreated during his stay in Lebanonin which he transmitted photos,video, audio, and commentary onthe current political situation inLebanon. He also led a discussionon the role of the artist asmediator and the use ofmultimedia for social and politicaltransformation.

In the evening, at the Auditorium,there was a screening session atwhich it was Notre DameUniversity’s students’ turn to showtheir creative work in the areas ofdocumentary making, advertising,directing and acting. A livelydiscussion followed, led by thevisitors from AU and moderated byProfessor Maher. Among theparticipants was the newlyappointed Cultural Attaché at theAmerican Embassy in Lebanon.

> Saturday, May 28: ProfessorJustin Schauble started hispresentation on how AU’s faculty isusing technology to communicatewith the students. He also provideda guided tour of AU’s wirelessinfrastructure.The participants then broke up intotwo groups to evaluate the 3-dayconference and exchange ideas forfuture collaboration between thetwo institutions. Recommendationswill be submitted to Dr. Sarru’,Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.

At the conclusion of this historicsymposium, the co-organizers ofthe event, Dr. Ajami andMs. Brigid Maher, summarized theproceedings and activities of theconference and thanked all thosewho contributed to its impressivesuccess, especially the guests fromAU, NDU faculty and students, thePresident of NDU Father BBoutrosTarabay, who met AU’s professors,the Director of AdministrationFather RRoger CChikri and his staff,

the Studio staff, the AdvertisingClub and other unsungcontributors.

The visiting faculty joined theDepartment, Dr. Salameh, andDr. Christine SSabieh, theChairperson of the Department ofEducation and English, for a greatLebanese lunch at a localrestaurant where they experiencedanother aspect of Lebaneseculture. The American guests hadspent an entire day before thesymposium sightseeing in variousparts of Lebanon and also spenttwo hours at Lebanon’s leading TVstation, LBC, checking itsoperations and facilities.

It has truly been a memorablesymposium and Dr. Cynthia King,one of the visiting faculty, summedit up beautifully when sheremarked “You Lebanese have alot to teach the world.”

human thought and imaginationthat inspired the writers andphilosophers and the architectsand engineers of our era.

Dr. ZZahida DDarwich JJabbourpresented the audience withoutstanding descriptive statementsused by famous Lebanese writersand their vocabulary thatcommemorated the “LebaneseHome” in the Lebanese Literatureand the minds of generations.

All the speakers stood on commonground for preserving the edificeof our heritage that maintainedour Lebanese folklore and literaryculture, whether in poetry(»fÉæÑ∏dG πLõdG) or in essay. This alsoconserved the link with ourancestors and brought vividimagery of the past.

The workshop terminated with aset of recommendations focusedon the need to expose our newgenerations to knowledge andinformation relevant to our culturaland architectural heritage and to

the human aspect affirming theties between the ancient and thepresent. These recommendationsalso stressed the need for restoringold architectural sites andbuildings, supporting villagers intheir hometowns and establishingstronger bonds betweentownspeople and their formerneighborhoods, and, last but notleast, prioritizing the humanitarianand social aspect over any other.There was also the further questionof launching a campaign oftraditional expositions and artexhibits and urging the Ministry ofCulture to collect nationaltreasures of the Lebanese folkloreheritage such as popular proverbsand traditional songs andpublishing them in books to betterfamiliarize the public with theircultural and architectural heritagealong with the varied forms ofvocational and artisticcraftsmanship whether in the artsor in architecture.

Report by: EDGAR MERHEB-HARB &SUZANNE DANDAN

2322

North Campus NewsA Workshop: Lebanese Architecture, by Writers and Historians

In the framework of theUniversity’s Cultural Workshopseries, NDU-NLC presentedanother remarkable seminar onLebanese Architecture in Literatureand History on Saturday, 5th ofFebruary, 2005.

The workshop commenced withthe National Anthem. Mr. SSalimKaram, Director of NDU-NLC,opened the event with a word ofwelcome, stressing the issues thatbring about intellectual progress,especially those of our culturalheritage, issues that mold us intobeing who we are at the present.Mr. EEdgar HHarb, the PR at NLC,also had a word to say inpresenting the professors andpersonalities and the social andcultural figures that lectured in thisfield and had left their personalmark.

Dr. JJean TTouma, the initiator andcoordinator of this seminar,emphasized the importance ofconservation of the architecturalheritage for safeguarding the

From left to right: Mr. Salim Karam, BishopPaul Guy Njeim, Mr. John Mufarrej,Mr. Suheil Matar, Rev. Boulos Wehbe andMiss Louba Naufal.

Workshop on Drug AbuseMarch 4th, 2005 – NDU-NLC

North Campus News

a nation or society, especially in ElKoura; “It is time that we fill in thegaps in this area, never to leavebehind unattended matters,unconcerned due to negligence,selfishness or outside interests.Never submit to the will of othersbut always retain the determinationto maintain our national liberty!”

Bishop Njeim talked about howOum El Nour had been launched,how it progressed and how itdeveloped into what it is today. Heelaborated on its rehabilitationprograms and the immense needfor them, whether or not the publicwas aware.

Dr. Ahmad Sami Minkara himselfspoke about the significance ofgood upbringing, stressingattentiveness to our children whoare the future of our societies.There were other interestinglectures from Dr. AAmeen AAlbertRihani, PVP for Research andDevelopment at NDU, Dr. MMarieKhoury, Dr. MMona YYazegi,Dr. Mario AAoun, Dr. SSami RRichaand Dr. NNaiim AAswad, with a wordfrom Miss BBetty HHindi of NDU.

There were live testimonies byyoung ex-addicts who regrettedtheir past and showed gratitude tothe people who cared for themand helped them in overcomingdependency. Miss JJoel MMoufarejpresented the views of youngpeople and described how muchthey needed emotional support,not only from their families butalso from the entire society.

The recommendations given byMr. EEdgar MMerheb-HHarb, PR NLC,were as follows:

— Given that there is a sickness inour society, it could beanywhere around us, in ourschools or our own homes.

— Given that the most popularhang-outs for drug users areschools and universities, it is theduty of these institutions toestablish means to advocateawareness, resistance,prognosis and rehabilitation.

— Promoting acceptance for drugvictims by their families andsocieties without shame forhaving them institutionalized ortreated.

— Establishing psychologicalcounseling in all academicinstitutions.

— Establishing students’ aidgroups (Connection) to spreadawareness and take personaltactful initiatives by means of“friend-to-friend”communication or word-of-mouth (Observatory).

— Inviting more clergy to bearresponsibility for the youth (withdue respect in this case toBishop Guy Boulos Njeim).

— Supporting associations such asOum El Nour, and promotingsports and social Clubs thatcollaborate in the mental andphysical well-being of theyoung.

— Urging all students able to facethe pressing unjust political andeconomic challenges to launch“Anti-smoking, Anti-drugs”campaigns through the mediaand in their local societies

REPORT BY: EDGAR MERHEB-HARB ANDMRS SUZANE DANDAN

Under the auspices of HE Ministerof Education Dr. AAhmad SSamiMinkara, and in coordination withthe Lebanese Social Society inKoura and the Oum El Nourassociation, NDU-NLC sponsoreda workshop on drug abuse, causesand facets, the treatment and thesocial consequences.

Among those present were BishopGuy BBoulos NNjeim, President ofOum El Nour, and Mr. JJeanMoufarej, a member of the NDUBoard of Trusties and President ofthe Lebanese Social Society, alongwith a cluster of specializedpsychiatrists, psychoanalysts, anddelegates from the Ministry of theInterior, all of whom providedvaluable insight on how to offsetthis malady and counter its effectson our rising generations. Othercivic institutions andrepresentatives also attended.

After the National Anthem, theevent was introduced by Mr. SSuheilMatar, the NDU President’sCounselor and Director of PublicRelations, followed by the Directorof NDU-NLC Mr. SSalim KKaram,who after welcoming the audienceemphasized that this workshopwas important for openingpeople’s eyes to the needs ofLebanon’s youth and the problemsof their social integration.

Mr. Jean Moufarej pointed to theneed to demonstrate assertivenesstowards our national destiny, tosupport our free choices and tonever compromise our integrity as

Honouring High-School PrincipalsAs usual every year, NDU ShoufCampus invited the Principals ofhigh schools in the surroundingdistricts to a meeting for generaldiscussion, held this time on April2nd, 2005 in the Al Mir AmeenPalace. The guests were welcomedby Campus Director Dr. RRoyKhouery, NDU General Director ofPublic Relations Mr. SSuheil MMatarspeaking on behalf of NDUPresident Father BBoutros TTarabayOMM, V.-P. for Academic AffairsDr. GGeorge EEid, and Director ofContinuing Education Mr. EEdgarBarakat. The NDU Department ofContinuing Education was theobject of particular attention,concerning languages, informationand various skills.

The event was organised byMr. Farid HHaikal, official of theAdmissions Office, and includedthe projection of a documentarythrowing light on the various NDUfaculties and academic, social andcultural activities. Finally a dinnerwas offered in honour of theguests.

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Shouf Campus Shorts

A Martyr for LebanonOn March 18th, 2005, NDU ShoufCampus held a meeting tocondemn the assassination ofPrime MMinister RRafiq HHariri underthe title A MMartyr ffor LLebanon. Theprincipal speakers were mediaexperts Ali HHamadeh and FaisalSulman, who addressedinstructors, administrative staff andstudents.

Mr. Faisal Sulman said that therewas no counting the reasons forhis grief at the death of PrimeMinister Rafiq Hariri, butprincipally he had had one lifewhich he had sacrificed for hiscountry. This country had beenworthy of Hariri and Hariri hadbeen worthy of his country. If thiscomparison was easy to make, thefact remained that whoever hadplotted against Rafiq Hariri was

plotting against Lebanon. Thosewho were behind his murder hadwanted to provoke strife and chaosin order to ruin Lebanon so itwould never rise again. But whathad happened was that allLebanese, Christians and Muslims,had joined together in themovement of independence whichhad been sparked off by the crimeand which would not beextinguished. The speaker thenlisted Hariri’s many patriotic andhumanitarian actions andattitudes.

Mr. Ali Hamadeh for his partinsisted on how Rafiq Hariri was aman apart, open and democratic,taking criticism and rising above itwhile respecting the critic, alwaysworking for the independence ofLebanon and wanting to bringabout change. The result of hismurder was that now all stood byhis side. The two speeches werefollowed by general discussion.

1. From left to right: Dr. Roy Khoueri,Dr. George Eid and Mr. Suheil Matar.

2. Part of the attentive audience hearingabout the future prospects at NDU oftheir high-school pupils.

3. Father Shawki Raffoul with other schooldirectors.

4. Cutting the ceremonial cake.

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Shouf Open DoorsThe Shouf Admissions Office underMr, FFarid HHaikal held its OpenDoors event on April 27th, 2005,at its campus at Deir el-Qamar towelcome secondary schoolstudents from the Shouf, Rashaya,Zahleh, Aley, Shweiffat, Saida(Sidon), Nabatiyeh and the Iqleem.The occasion attracted hundreds ofstudents to meet the doctors of thevarious faculties, thanks to thecooperation between the Universityand the principals of the schools inthe above-mentioned regions.

Those helping Mr. Haikal includedDr. DDany BBedran, Miss MMarina BBouKaroum, Miss MMyrna KKaram,Mr. Fady KKhoury and Mr. EEmilKhoury. Success was largely duealso to NDU students who playeda major role.

Lebanon in Times ofChangeOn MAY 11th, 2005, at theinvitation of NDU Shouf Campus,the media specialist Sarkis NNaoumaddressed the teaching body,students and their friends on thechanges taking place in Lebanon.He raised the question of whathope there was for the formationof a true State following thestagnation affecting the countrybetween the years 1990 and2005.

The speaker remarked thatAmerica had given Syria the greenlight to help Lebanon rebuild theState on the basis of the TaefAgreement, but many mistakeswere made during the following15-year period, with the result thatthe Lebanese had lost their will torestore peace among themselves,reach agreement and serve their

independence. Perhaps thesacrifice of Prime Minister Haririhad hastened liberation fromdomination and police regime.Mr. Ghanem considered that thepresent election law did not satisfyvoters and that another wasneeded to ensure saneparliamentary representation.

After the talk there were questionsand expressions of opinion fromthe floor, to which Mt. Ghanemreplied. Finally he received a tokengift from the University inappreciation of his role in publicinformation and his affection andfriendship for NDU.

national interests. Mr. SarkisNaoum considered that electionsbased on local constituencieswould best please voters andshould be relied upon. He finallythanked Shouf Campus for theinvitation to speak and wished thestudents a prosperous future.

Marcel Ghanem, afamiliar faceOn May 18th, 2005, Mr. MMarcelGhanem was the guest of ShoufCampus for a discussion withstudents to throw light on anumber of topical subjects. Afterthe playing of the LebaneseNational Anthem and anintroduction by Dr. FFouad CChedid,Mr. Marcel Ghanem lay stress onthe full execution of Syrianwithdrawal, seeing it as therealisation of the national desirecommon to all communities. Headded that the present generationwas not one marked withsubmission and frustration, butone that had been patient in itsconviction about coming

Shouf Campus News1. A joyful Debkeh: the Shouf holds its

traditions dear.2. Visiting a laboratory.3. Consultations and advice.4. NDU is Catholic, which means open to all.5. Mr. Farid Haikal and Dr. Roy Khouery.

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The third speaker in the series wasDr. CChristine SSabieh, present Chairof the Department of English,Translation and Education.Dr. Sabieh is well published in thefield of CALL. She gave apresentation entitled, “Effective Useof Tools in the Classroom”. Usingthe overhead projector, audiocassette player, television, VCRand computer to emphasize thepositive ways that students can bemotivated to learn in a pleasantatmosphere, Dr. Sabieh provedthat tools must be used effectivelyin order to be useful. For thoseschools which are not equippedwith state-of-the-art tools,Dr. Sabieh emphasized howsimple it is to use a blackboard ora whiteboard to their greatestadvantage. As a creative exampleof how simple it is to introducetools into the classroom,Dr. Sabieh demonstrated that themovie “Saving Nimo” could beused to teach English, Maths andScience, as well as responsiblecitizenship. The 250 teacherspresent agreed that tools must beapplied and then evaluated inorder to ensure that studentsobtain the best education possible.Dr. Sabieh presented the sameseminar to an interested audienceat the NDU Shouf campus on April20th.

Dr. AAmal YYazigy, former Chair ofthe Department of English,

Translation, and Education gavethe fourth seminar on April 27th.

The title of her presentation wasMethods in the Classroom.Dr. Yazigy has long experience inthe field of Methodology ofTeaching as she gives courses onthe Master’s Level in such subjectsas Teaching Reading and others.In an inter-active session for a fullauditorium, Dr. Yazigy began bydefining the student-centeredclassroom and focused on itssignificance for all subject matters.She exposed different approachesto ensuring student-centeredteaching of Maths, language,geography and history. In astudent-centered classroom, theteacher’s role is modified. Theteacher must guide the students tolearn; the teacher must be thefacilitator of the student’s quest.She emphasized that teachers in astudent-centered classroom do notabsent themselves from thelearning experience, but theyadapt the activities so that studentsare able to grasp concepts in theirauthentic form. In reality, teachersin a student-centered classroommust rise to the challenge ofbringing learning alive to themedia-loving students of today’sworld. Dr. Yazigy also gave herseminar to teachers on the Barsacampus of NDU on May 11th.

The last speaker of this year’s

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ETE Seminarsseminar session was Dr. JJoyceBahous. Dr. Bahous is widelyreknowned in Lebanon as anexpert on Testing and Evaluation.She has not only published in thefield but teaches courses on boththe undergraduate and graduatelevels. Dr. Bahous’s session wasentitled Evaluation in Today’sClassroom. Beginning with thepremise that critical thinking is amust in today’s classroom,Dr. Bahous outlined how to applyreasoning in the design andcorrection of a test. Testing andevaluating students is an extremelyimportant task for teachers. Thefuture of each individual studentmay rely on the professionalattitude taken by the classroomteacher and the school as a whole.Dr. Bahous provided examples oftest items that could serve as abasis for professional testpreparation. She presented asimple table teachers could use soas to ensure all aspects of theirprogram are covered in an exam.Dr. Bahous touched upon theimportance of writing clear,informative comments for theparents. Report cards must besources of information for parentsand students. In her conclusion,Dr. Bahous emphasized theresponsibility each teacher has indistinguishing between a gradeand an assessment. She alsopresented her seminar at the Shoufcampus of NDU on June 1st.

NDU is planning a new series ofseminars for the upcomingacademic year. Approximately1800 teachers attended this year’sseminar series. For furtherinformation you may write or callNDU at csabieh@ndu.edu.lb<mailto:csabieh@ndu.edu.lb> orext. 2425.

In its series of ten seminars held at the Friend’s Hall, NotreDame University, Zouk Mikhael, the Department of English,Translation and Education endeavored to encourageteachers from all over Lebanon to adopt learner-centerededucation strategies and to continue to work with thestudent’s well-being at the heart of the school day.

On Saturday 9th April 2005, theEnglish Speaking Union (ESU )Lebanese Chapter held its 5th

Public Speaking Competitionnational finals at Notre DameUniversity, Louaize.

The theme this year was“Differences and Diversity”.Universities had been invited topresent two representatives agedbetween 18 and 20 to the finals.

This unique international ESUproject is gaining in popularity forgiving the opportunity to youngnational winners from all over theworld to meet in London andexpress their views on topicalsubjects. Locally, this programmehas inspired some institutions, suchas the Makassed, to offer thisproject to their students.

Since it began this competition atthe British Council Beirut in 2000,ESU Lebanon has moved the finalsto a different university each year(USJ, LAU, Haigazian). Winnershave been students from the

following universities: Beirut Arab,AUB, LAU, USJ and NDU.

This year, the two Lebanesefinalists are Samia AAhmed BBadihfrom Beirut Arab University andHasan YYounes from NDU.

HSBC Lebanon is generouslysponsoring this event for thesecond year running. This willallow the two finalists to attend theInternational Competition inLondon. There, an activity-packedprogramme is arranged for theparticipants every year, includingattendance at live debates at theHouse of Commons, debatingworkshops, visits to the theatre etc.The finals take place at the end ofthe week and the Internationalwinner is then invited back to

London in November toBuckingham Palace to receivehis/her prize from the hands ofH.R.H. Prince Philip, President ofthe ESU.

All speakers received aparticipation certificate andLibrairie du Liban generouslyoffered them a gift of a dictionary.It should be noted that at three outof five such competitions winnershave come from NDU, namely PiaZeinoun, Nayla Haber and nowHassan Younes.

The ESU 5th PublicSpeaking CompetitionNDU Winner

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NDU Founders’ Day‘CELEBRATING THECULTURES OF THE WORLD’An Entertaining Cultural Event

Over 5000 people participated inthe NDU FOUNDERS’ DAY onMay 13, 2005 at the maincampus, many coming fromoutside the University.

The day began with a Mass servedby members of the MedjugorjeChoir.

‘Celebrating tthe CCultures oof ttheWorld’ was the theme of the day,with each NDU club portraying aspecific culture in costume, dressand food.

Cultural quizzes added to the fun,with gifts accompanied by muchenthusiasm. Students, staff andfaculty joined in the music, whichhighlighted the theme by featuringMr. PPierre BBoutros, seminarist, andMr. EElie IIrani on behalf of Nescafein the Varieties sequence whichwas followed by the Jazz QQuartet(Nidal AAbou SSamra and band).Mr. Guy MManoukian and his bandwere a huge success, in addition toOriental mmusic and Fayrouziat byMs. RRania YYounes, a Faculty

member from the Music andMusicology Department.

Professional DDances wereperformed by the Nameless dancegroup offered by the Camping andMusic Clubs, by the students ofMr. SSami eel HHajje and by the SalsaPromoters.

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Nescafe was the main sponsor,and many restaurants and catererscomplemented the scene.

A student talent show crowned thewhole event, and was highlightedby the famous DJ SSaid MMrad, whowrapped up the eveningsuccessfully past midnight.

Activities performed by thestudents:— Music BBands: Astronomy Band,

Nemesis, Ziad TTaouk andband, and Barsa Band

— Dances: Advertising Club:Italian dance, Debate Club:western dance, HTC Club:Egyptian dance, Social Club:Lebanese dance.

— Songs: Social: Shaghig FFilian,Tony KKhalil. Music club: Sergio,who launched his new CDalbum. Advertising: PaulaBrahim, Yvonne EEl HHashem.The opera voice of SalimBannout was especiallyappreciated.

— Zajal: Social Club— Games: Scouts Club,

Advertising Club— Fireworks, Numchunko: Hadi

Hajjar, Social— Poem: Samer SSalem (8 years)

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1. Nameless2. Crowd at night3. Manoukian and band4. Advertising Club (day)5. Beautiful faces (S)6. Beautiful faces (D)7. Fathers of NDU8. Connections, anti-drug-addiction

campaign

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NDU Job Fair 2005

On June 1st, 2005, The Minister ofFinance, Economy and TradeDamianos KKattar opened Job Fair2005 organised by the NDUPlacement Office in participationwith thirty firms, including banks,insurance companies, ITcompanies, services, employmentoffices and hotels. The Fair lastedtwo days and provided anoccasion for contacts andpresentations for orientation andguidance.

After the cutting of the ribbon, theNDU General Director of PublicRelations Mr. SSuheil MMatar spokeabout the question of employmentopportunities for graduates asmore important than any otherissue although none of the electionplatforms brought it up. He calledon students to insist on this matterwith all candidates.

The NDU Placement OfficerMrs. Grace KKhalil spoke of the roleof NDU in helping students fromits very beginnings to find jobs,taking the problem intoconsideration with every newspecialisation launched. TheOffice, as a bridge betweenstudents and employers, was nowworking at a time of economicdifficulty both locally andworldwide. Mrs. Khalil thenthanked all the companies and

professional and commercialinstitutions for their participation,activity and efforts in the way ofcontacts between themselves, theUniversity staff and the graduates.

NDU President Father BBoutrosTarabay said that the PlacementOffice had been founded to ensureeffective cooperation withcompanies for training the studentsand providing them withemployment with the purpose ofkeeping them in their own land ofLebanon. He pointed to the effortsof Minister Kattar for the long-delayed budget, as the homecountry could live only thanks to adynamic economy able to absorbuniversity graduates.

For his part, Minister Kattar saidthat the public debt could be metonly by raising output and that

those outside who were willing tohelp, and with whom discussionwas engaged, trusted to theabilities of the Lebanese for apolicy of repayment and to anincrease of public and privateproduction. He considered that theJob Fair was a first step in thisdirection and hoped that all thecompanies participating wouldorganise yet another Fair centredin particular on training. TheMinister insisted on the need forthe Government to plan three tofive years ahead and for theNational Bank to pay attention tosmall and medium-sized firms. Hewondered if Lebanon could absorbits graduates when it had onlyweak growth, driving many to theArab and other countries with nointention of return.

Fadia el Hagge, Mr Suheil Matar, MinisterKattar, Grace Khalil, Father Tarabay andBetty Hindi

For six hectic days, seventy-fivestudents from all over Europe andthe Middle East gathered to makeeye contact at Islam aand EEurope, aninternational conference that tookplace in Turkey in October, 2004.

Seven participants from NDUattended the conference,Dr. Eugene SSensenig-DDabbous,Associate Professor in the PoliticalScience Department, who was aspeaker at the conference, studentsfrom the Political ScienceDepartment Aida DDaher, NathalieKobrossie, Gerard SSaadjtian,Cynthia KKaram and OliviaPenikian, and Mahmoud YYounesfrom the Biology Department.

Islam aand EEurope: EEye CContact wasa great success. Panels,workshops and debates allowedstudents to build up anunderstanding of Islam and theWest. Among the topics discussedwere The West in the eyes of Islamand Islam in the eyes of the West,The role of Islam in Europe, Therole of EU in building the West-Islam dialogue and Turkey’s role inEurope.

This conference was a greatexperience. In addition toacquiring knowledge, we formednew friendships and also profitedby doing some sightseeing inIstanbul, Ankara and Konya.

What was really interesting wasour trip to Konya, one of the oldestcities in history, situated in thesouthern region of the Anatolianplateau. It is the city of MaulanaRumi, the founder of Sufism orspiritual Islam with its distinctivewhirling and circling dancepracticed by the Dervishes. TheWhirling Dervishes practice aspiritual dance which symbolizesthe evolution towards God, withtheir right hand lifted upward toreceive blessing from God andtheir left hand turned downward togive these blessings to the peoplewhile turning in circles from right

NDU Students in TurkeyNathalie Kobrossi

to left in harmony with theaccompanying music.

I noticed that European studentswere very concerned and eager toknow about Islam. In my opinion,the stereotypes and prejudices theyhad concerning Muslims or Arabswere the result of the media, whichoften distort reality. However, atthe end of the conference manywere able to overcome thisobstacle standing between Islamand Europe.

Our trip to Turkey wascertainly one to remember!

1. The Lebanese participants at the AtaturkMuseum in Ankara, together with a Greekparticipant, third from right.

2. The Whirling Dervishes at Konya.3. The NDU group on their return to Beirut Airport.

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After Miss VValerie AAoun, agraduate student of EnglishLiterature in the DETE, Faculty ofHumanities at NDU, presented herpaper entitled, “Homer and Byron:An Iconographic Journey fromHades to the Gates of the ExaltedSelf”, (See Abstract Bellow) in the4th International Student ByronConference, she soared highabove twelve other graduatestudents from the followinguniversities: Athens University-Greece; University of Liverpool,Cambridge University, and theUniversity of Wales, Cardiff, UK;Princeton University, the Universityof Virginia, the University ofDelaware, Pacific University, andSusquehanna University, USA. Theconference, which took placebetween 17 and 25 May, 2005, inMessolonghi and Ithaca, thebirthplace of Homer, in Greece,was attended by well-knownscholars of Byronic and Romanticstudies, such as Prof. Byron Raizis(Greece), Prof. Peter W. Graham,and Prof. Jonathan Cross (USA),and Prof. Malcolm Kelsall (UnitedKingdom). All professors lined upwith their students to congratulateMiss Aoun on her academic insightand skillful communicativeabilities. I was overjoyed when thesame scholars and students linedup to congratulate Notre DameUniversity and me for havingstudents with such high academic

NDU Graduate StudentSoars High in AcademiaProf. Naji Oueijan

standards as Miss Aoun. EspeciallyBritish and American professorsshowed interest in having MissAoun join their Ph.D. programsafter her completion of her MA atNDU, and promised to arrange forscholarships and/or assistantships,if she chooses to attend theirdepartments.

Besides, being a member of theorganizing committee of theconference, I attended a closedmeeting to discuss conferenceissues and the publication of theproceedings in a book edited byProf. Malcolm Kelsall; it wasunanimously agreed that allstudent articles, except the articleby Miss Aoun, will be refereedbefore publication. Also, it wasagreed that Miss Aoun wouldreceive a special grant if shedecided to participate in the 2006conference. This gave me a greatsense of pride and reinforced mydetermination to encourage othergraduate students from the DETEat NDU to participate ininternational student conferences.

But amidst my jubilation, I wasdismayed when I learnt that alltwelve students were grantedfinancial assistantships covering alltheir conference expenses out bytheir universities, and that onlyMiss Aoun had to pay a major partof conference expenses out of herown pocket money (I was able toarrange a modest grant of US$200.00 via a Byron scholar in theUSA). I sincerely hope that NDUelite graduate students will oneday have the same privileges astheir fellow students in otheruniversities around the world.

I whole-heartedly congratulateMiss Aoun, the DETE, the Facultyof Humanities, and NDU forproving to the world that some ofour students can soar high in theworld of academia.

Miss Valerie Aoun’s Abstract:

Homer and Byron: An Iconographic Journey from Hades tothe Gates of the Exalted Self.

human soul to the exaltation offreedom—that of the self—and thisjourney was taken by many iconwriters in their quest to express aunification with their inner Self andultimately their Creator. Thispresentation will attempt to dealwith Homer and Byron asiconographic literary figures whothrough their literature have set outon a journey to find the tormentednature of their inner selves and tofind a sense of human exaltationon this earth that might give thema glimpse of Heaven. It will alsoexplore the voyage that starts withthe messianic journey of Homer’sOdysseus up to Byron’siconographic quest—through hisdifferent works.

My Abstract:Byron’s Virtual Tour ofLebanonThere is no doubt that thecountries Byron visited during hisfirst uncompleted Orientalpilgrimage had a notable impacton his personality and poeticcareer. Especially remarkable andinfluential were his visits to Greeceand Turkey, both of whichrendered him “a citizen of theworld” and contributed enormouslyto his poetic career after hiscomposition of Childe Harold’sPilgrimage and the Oriental tales.But Byron’s initial plan for hisEastern tour also included regionslike Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon,Syria, Persia and India. In a letterto John Cam Hobhouse, fromAthens, in early February, 1811,Byron writes: “Dear Cam,—Myfirman for Syria & Egypt beingarrived I am off in Spring forMount Sion, Damascus, Tyre &Sidon, Cairo & Thebes.” Byron,however, could not fulfill his travelwishes for lack of funds and forpersonal problems in hishomeland. To limit the scope ofthis presentation, I will try to createa Byronic virtual tour of only asmall but significant part of thisEastern region, Lebanon. I willbase this virtual tour on Byron’sknowledge of and interest in thisregion especially that in his majorworks he makes about 16references to Lebanon, its CedarTrees, and the Phoenician city ofTyre. I will also refer to the actualvisits of contemporary famoustravelers to Lebanon. This Byronicvirtual tour will reinforce myassumption that had Byron visitedthis region his major works,especially the travelogues and hisOriental tales, would haveundoubtedly undergone atremendous expansion andchange.

1. Miss. Valerie Aoun presenting her paper.2. Prof. Naji Oueijan presenting his paper.3. Prof. Kelsall, Prof. Oueijan, and Prof. Graham4. Miss Aoun amongst other participants.

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In his Epistle to the Ephesians, St.Paul wrote, “Thus it says,‘Ascending on high, he led awaycaptives; he gave gifts to men.’Now this, ‘he ascended’, whatdoes it mean but that he also firstdescended into the lower parts ofthe earth?” Greek Orthodoxiconographers have extraordinarilycaptured this picture in the famousicon known as “The Descent intoHades”, in which Christ isportrayed as descending down tohell and freeing Adam and Evefrom death and opening wide theway to eternal life for mankind.Read outside of its religiouscontext, the above icon is arepresentation of a Romanticjourney into the depth of the

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reorganize the country’s situationin order to have a variety of jobopportunities.

He affirmed that there was a needto maintain what was achieved onMarch 14th, with no return tomutual destruction, through thevarious political parties. Inconclusion, he hoped that theelections would give everycandidate and citizen anopportunity to rearrange theirpriorities.

On April 15, 2005, the NDU Youth Club organized apolitical meeting with DDeeppuuttyy PPiieerrrree JJmmeeiill and DDrr.. WWaaddiihhAAll-HHaajjjj under the title of “Lebanon of Tomorrow.”

Dr. Hajj said that the Lebanon ofTomorrow is a new country that wecan launch through the building ofinstitutions, the will to destroycorruption, the ability of thegovernment to take control over itsfull territory, and the directparticipation of the youth inpolitical life.

Deputy Jmeil stressed that hewanted a united, democratic, andpluralistic Lebanon that maintained

the privacy of individuals andopened the door through theparliamentary elections to produceanother government thatrepresented all sectors of theLebanese people and organized aprogram that included all subjects.

Then Mr. Jmeil talked addressedthe youth, saying that Lebanonneeded its youth, who should focuson their abilities and capacitiesand work on a schedule to

Dr. Eddy Abillamaaon the future of the Forces

On the occasion of the 11th year of the arrest of Dr. SamirJaajaa, the Debate Club at Notre Dame Universityarranged a meeting with the representative of the LebaneseForces in “Kornit Shihwan”, DDrr.. EEddddyy AAbbiillllaammaaaa.

Deputy Pierre Jmeiland Dr. Wadih al-Hajj– The Lebanon ofTomorrow, a new country

Dr. Abillamaa commented that,despite all that had happened, theforces that paid high prices duringthe war, especially the LebaneseForces, kept their hopes high inorder to rebuild Lebanon, tocontinue the communicationprinciple that Taef was based on,

and to correct the newconstitutional mistakes that weremade.

In a dialogue with the students,Dr. Abillamaa stressed that nogroup should be deleted. On thesubject of turning the Lebanese

Forces into a political party, Dr.Abillamaa said that this issuewould be discussed later, affirmingthat they certainly existed as amovement. He also stressed theimportance of having politicalalliances to execute the projects inthe presence of all political parties.

Tuenitalks...

On Monday, 16th May, 2005, theNDU Public Relations class invited“Kornet Shehwan” member andelectoral candidate Mr. GGibranTueni for an open discussion underthe title Current Events andLebanon’s Future. He talked aboutthe elections and announced hiscandidacy. His opinions had notchanged: on the one hand Syriamust withdraw and on the otherChristians and Muslims must sit atthe same table to unite the countryand revive their partnerships. Mr.Tueni stressed that the 2000electoral law which had beenimposed so the public had eitherto drop out of the political gameor to make up for tis deficiencies.He approved the United Nations’desire that the elections should goahead as planned but alsodemanded a new law fordecentralised administration and anew administrative division.

Mr. Tueni called on people to putthe war behind them for the sakeof national reconciliation. Hewould urge the formation of afinancial economic investigationcommittee drawn from allcountries that helped Lebanon,which would open all files abouthow there were forty billion dollarsof public debt.

Candidates come to NDU

At a meeting on Wednesday, 18th

May, 2005, organised by the NDUInternational Relations Club at themain campus, the speakers wereFarid eel-KKhazen MM.P., the FreePatriotic Movement’s candidateAttorney IIbrahim KKanaan, theNational Bloc’s Kesrouan-Byblos

candidate Dr. GGeorge AAbi ZZaid,and member of the Free PatrioticMovement Executive CommitteeArchitect AAlain AAoun.

They explained their electoralprogrammes, agreeing on theneed for political and judicial

change, for fighting corruption, foran economic plan to save thecountry and for restoring the stateinstitutions. They pointed out thatthe 2000 electoral law was againstthe popular will, weakeningdemocratic life, and alienatedmany Lebanese.

Deputy Mosbah AhdabA call for democracy

On January 7th, 2005, DeputyMosbah AAhdab was the guest ofthe Public Relations class inFriends’ Hall at the NDU maincampus. He was welcomed byMr. Suheil MMatar, NDU GeneralDirector of Public Relations, andthe student Maria BBteich, and thenintroduced to the audience byfaculty member Dr. KKhalid FFakih.After expressing his thanks for theinvitation, Deputy Ahdab spokeabout the present situation anddevelopments, describing thepresent order as a security regimerather than a democratic one. Inhis view it was natural that there

should be differences of opinionamong members of theopposition, but these should besettled by democratic means andnot by recourse to intelligenceservices.

In particular, UN Resolution 1559covered issues that ought to beresolved first among the Lebanesethemselves and secondly togetherwith Syria

(We regret that the report reachedus with some delay, but we felt thatpublication was better late thannever! – Ed.)

Dr. Khalid Fakih, Member of Parliament Mosbah Ahdab, Mr. Suheil Matar and Miss MariaBteich.

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NDU students unitedfor Independence

In memory of April 13th, NotreDame University studentsorganized a meeting in theouter area of the university,where its different politicalmovements distributed a unitedstatement calling forparticipation in this nationalevent at the Martyrs Square indedication of this day and of theIndependence that was alwayslonged for, and in cooperationwith the Opposition in theprocess of reviving the nationaleconomy and defeating fear inorder to restore Beirut’s formerglory.

Lebanon’ s Cup for the Universities at NotreDame university -LouaizeBetween the 15th and 20th of April, 2005, the NDU Sports Officeorganized the Lebanon Cup for Universities in Street-ball, Mini-footballand Three Points.

The results were as follows:

Street-ball for the universities:Semi-finals:Louaize 1/Holy Spirit-Kaslik 1

12/10

Louaize 2/Sagesse 1 8/6

Finals:1st Louaize 2 15

2nd Louaize 1 12

Street-ball for the Institutes:Finals: 1st AUT 15

2nd Louaize-Shouf 11

The matches were directed by thereferees Elie SSalameh, Roy MMakonand Nadim CChamat.

Mini-football:Semi-finals:Holy Spirit-Kaslik/Al Manar

2/2 (4/3 Penalty)

USJ / AUB 1/2

Finals: 1st USJ 5

2nd Holy Spirit-Kaslik 0

The referees were:Wissam Safetly, Rabih DDib,and Hadi HHajjar.

Three Points:Universities:1st Roger Bardawil/Louaize

9 out of 15 points

2nd Alain Sawaya/Louaize7 out of 15

3rd Wael Melki/Balamand6 out of 15

Institutes:1st Johnny Ghsain/AUT

10 out of 15

2nd Joe Raaidy/AUT7 out of 15

3rd Mario Raaidy/AUT5 out of 15

Sports Office News

The referees were Michel SSfeir, ElieSalameh and Rana SSebaaly

Mr. GGeorges NNader, head of theNDU Sports Office and theGeneral Secretary of the FSUL,supervised the tournament incooperation with Mr. EElias BBoutros,Mario KKhoury, Bechara BBarada’iand Joseph MMatta.

At the end, NDU President FatherBoutros TTarabay distributed thecups and medals to the winners.

The NDU TournamentThe yearly NDU SportsTournament was held betweenMay 23rd and May 27 under thepatronage of NDU PresidentFather BBoutros TTarabay, with thepresence of the President of theFSUL Judge NNasri LLahoud and alarge crowd composed of staff andstudents.

The final results were as follows:

Men’s Basketball:NDU/Balamand 85/65

Ladies’ Basketball:Holy Spirit-Kaslik/NDU 47/45

Mini-football:NDU/Sagesse 5/2

Men’s Volleyball:NDU/USJ 2/0

Chess (with 28 players):1. Serge Hovnanian

LAU 5.5 points

2. Imad SingerLebanese International 5 points

3. Elie Abou JaoudehNDU 4.5 points

4. Henri ChidiacUSJ 4 points

5. Hussein DiyaUL 4 points

At the end of the tournament, cupsand medals were distributed to thewinners by Judge NNasri LLahoudand by NDU Director of Sports,University Federation GeneralSecretary and Lebanese OlympicCommittee member Mr. GGeorgeNader.

At the university level you aretaught the different levels of theorganization and what an accountexecutive does. But there is a hugegap between theory and practice.This huge gap is created onceagain by the type of agency youmight be working for. In certainsmall agencies the accountexecutive is also the media plannerand buyer, whereas in otheragencies he performs what we seein theory. This scenario is widelypopular in Lebanon, where in thebig agencies the job of the accountexecutive is the same as that seenin theory due to the presence ofMBUs and Creative Cells, while insmall agencies where there are noMBUs the account executive takeson the roles of both executive andplanner.

Having been an account executivefor the past two years, I havemoved between companiesranging from small to regionaland international. What is clearlynoticeable is that the bigger yougo the more accountability there is.

Certainly, you will not grow as fastas in a small agency, yet the levelof professionalism is clearlydifferent. An account executive hasto be able to write briefs andreports; he must be constantlyreading, looking for new trendsand and new theories andbroadening his horizon.

The account executive is thebuzzing bee and the ant of theorganization. The advertisingworld is a very demanding andever-changing world. You have tobe both cordial and aggressive tosucceed. The job of the accountexecutive does not come downonly to writing briefs andprocessing jobs; he has to be ableto research new ways to enhancethe client’s potential for growth.

You will hear many comments onthe way you are doing your joband about the quality of yourwork. Don’t take it the wrong way,but learn to listen and to adapt. Asan account executive you are theforefront of the organization and if

Experience never stopsElias Karout

As a university student, you mightthink that you are going to usewhat you are learning. Then whensomebody tells you that you arenot going to use anything that youhave learned your natural answerwill be, “You are wrong!” Thenyou might ask yourself, “What if heis right? Why am I learning?” Well,actually you do use the things youhave learned, but they are onlyguidelines to the actual learningprocess, which begins when youhave landed your first job.

As a student I had the same pointof view, but I always expected touse what I had learned. But then itreally hit me, and I found myselflearning everything from scratch.In the business world you have touse what you have learned as thebasics for processing the job.However, processing the job is awhole new science in itself, andthis science differs with eachcompany, depending on thecompany structure and thecorporate identity.

you look good then the Agencylooks good. So my piece of adviceis - Make Sure You Look Good.

For an account executive to besuccessful he must be proactive, areader, a conversationalist and avisionary.

Proactive: this means he must beable to push the client to goforward, to follow up and to getthings done. But most importantlyhe must find new ways to hisclient’s business, his agency’sportfolio and his own portfolio.

Reader: the account executivemust read to learn new theories,concepts and ideas which will helphim create new things and ideasand have insights for the solutionof a particular problem. In thisworld one is what one knows.

Conversationalist: society adoresthe conversationalist, the personwho loves people, and this is themost important tool for an accountexecutive. He has to love to mingle

with people and talk to them.Doing so will enable you to buildup your network of connectionsand to obtain power.

Visionary: perhaps mostimportantly of all, a visionary is aleader. He knows where he wantsto go and how he is going to getthere. Being a visionary allows theaccount executive or planner tosee the direction the campaign isgoing to take and the steps thatwill have to be implemented toachieve the overall goal. Avisionary thus becomes the leader,a position coveted by many butattained by only a few.

If you are aiming to become anaccount manager, there are a fewsimple rules you should neverforget:

1. Always follow up on your joband double-check all your mailsbefore sending anything.

2. Learn and train yourself to writepresentations.

3. Learn and practice the art of

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public speaking and pitching.Shyness will get you nowherefast.

I have learned that nothing comeseasy and everything can go wrongin an instant, so keep your eyesopen and your senses alert; theslightest mistake can cause you tolose your biggest client. Thereforebe alert and keep in mind whereyou want to be and how you wantto get there, and you will surelyreach your goal. As long as youset your mind on something anduse the right techniques you willachieve your goal whether inbusiness or in your personal life.

Elias Karout is an NDU graduate inAdvertising and Marketing. Presently,he is Account Executive at HorizonFCB and working on his Masterdegree at NDU. E-mailekarout@horizonfcb.com

Birth: Anthony EidThe NDU Division of ComputingServices is proud to announce thebirth of Anthony EEid, son of FadiEid, Web Developer in theDivision of Computing Services –Main Campus. Congratulationsto the parents of the newborn! –Armen AA. BBalian, Head,Academic Computer Center,NDU.

I am Anthony Eid, i was bornon April 4, 2005, at 9:05am,weight: 3150g.,heigh: 51cm.

Social

Correction:We regret a mistake that crept into issue 33 of NDU Spirit. The article onpage 67 entitled Keeping Hunger at Bay was by Dr. NNajat YYahia and notby Dr. TTony HHage. We hope that they will accept our apologies.

For almost ten years now I havebeen fighting hard, day after day,assignment after assignment, toprove myself in a competitive andhighly aggressive industry calledAdvertising, an industry constantlyfacing changes, pressures, globaltrends and tough economicconditions.

Today, when I look back on what Ihave so far done, I feel that I havethe drive and the potential to get tothe top. My advancement was duesometimes to luck and at othertimes to smart moves that I madeor to doors that were opened tome. Nevertheless, I cannot butacknowledge the paramountimportance of the Advertising andMarketing program that I followedat NDU.

My years at NDU, the courses Itook, and the teachers I had, allprovided me with the tools, theknowledge and the curiosity to gofurther. I can still hear the real-lifeexperiences that were related tome by professors such as

Mr. Kamal DDarouni. Maybe at thetime not everything seemedrelevant and clear, but today I gothrough many of these sameexperiences myself, and appreciateeven more what was given to me.

To all Advertising students in NDUI would say that you should neverforget that you are the industryleaders of tomorrow. So my adviceto you is Read, Learn and Listen,and never underestimate thematerial or the teachers. It is onlyby being well prepared that youwill be able to forge yourself aplace.

NDU offers the market the bestcandidates for Advertising positionsand to the best of the best I simplysay: Send your CVs!

Media

Two important events involving themedia-government relationshiphave taken place over the last fewmonths. Both shed light on therelationship between media andgovernments and on the ethicsassociated with such relationships.The first event involved a USjournalist and the second eventconcerned the Arab TV newsstation Al-Jazeera.

In the first incident, television andradio personality ArmstrongWilliams told CNN that he hadtaken $240,000 to flog Bush’s NoChild Left Behind plan, the USAToday reported on Friday, January7, 2005. The scandal enragedDemocrat Party officials, whocalled this a case of “Bush wastingtaxpayers’ money for politicalpropaganda”, and they consideredsuch behavior illegal. Furthermore,opposition Democrats, headed bySenate Minority Leader Harry Reid,said that they believed that “the actof bribing journalists to bias theirnews in favor of government policyundermines the integrity of our

Why NDU?Serge Dagher, NDUGraduate & MA StudentAccount Director, Horizon Advertising Agency

Dr. Mahmoud Hammoud,NDU Mass CommunicationDept.

democracy.” They considered suchan act as covert propaganda toinfluence public opinion. Reid andthe Democrats called on the WhiteHouse to refund the public money.

Mr. Williams, a conservative Blackcommentator, justified his act bysaying that Bush’s school reformmatched his own conservativeviews and that he was not boundby journalistic ethics usagebecause he owned a publicrelations company.

In the second incident, Al Hourra,a television station, which is aimedat Arab audiences to foster the USimage, broadcast a video tape ofa meeting between OuadaySaddam Hussein, the late son ofthe former President of Iraq, andthe former top manager of AlJazeera news station. In the video,the Al Jazeera official was heardthanking Mr. Hussein for hisdirections and support. Al Hourrasaid it had obtained other videotapes involving the two officials.

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Al Jazeera news station respondedto the charges saying that itmaintains its integrity by presentingall sides of the news and that themeeting was only a courtesymeeting which did not meananything. It also stated thateveryone knew that in order tooperate news from Iraq any newsorganization was obliged to meetwith Ouaday Saddam Hussein.The announcement by the stationreminded its audiences of AlJazeera coverage of the war inAfghanistan and Iraq and of thebombardment of the offices of thestation in both countries during themilitary campaigns.

These two incidents show howdelicate is the relationship betweenthe media on one side andgovernments on the other side.While the US Government didviolate its own laws bypropagating its own policies, it didnot accept a relationship betweenits adversaries and an influentialnews station such as Al Jazeera.However, irrespective of what

governments may or may notthink, the issue of taking moneyfrom the government to propagateits policies poses serious threats tothe media’s credibility andintegrity. Although Mr. Williamsapologized to his audiences fortaking government money, heconsidered his behavior as badjudgment rather than as unethical.Similarly, Al Jazeera saw no ethicalproblem in having a relationshipwith officials of the former IraqiGovernment.

The problem with these types ofrelationship is that they are doneunder cover and without publicknowledge. They are revealed onlyby accident or by adversaries ofthe government in question. It isour belief that journalists shouldabide by a code of ethics that willmaintain the integrity of thejournalist’s profession. In thatregard, the media should act as awatchdog by keeping an eye onthe government in the interests ofthe people. Governments may taketheir people into wars withoutjustification when the media fail toplay that role. The apology by TheNew York Times for not havingquestioned the US governmentclaims concerning allegedweapons of mass destruction(WMD) did not help the peopleafter the war had taken thousandsof lives.

Honest and credible media canguarantee the proper functioningof governments in a democracy.

Government Relationshipsin Media Developments

1. My recent visit to Dubai

While I was passing by the MediaCity in Dubai, and then the InternetCity, I felt as if I were a civilizedgentleman coming from the jungleof the Amazon. I did have athought: What the hell am I stilldoing in Beirut, the capital ofknowledge, civilization,communication, creativity, youname it?

I begin to remember our prominentleaders’ claims that Beirut is wherethe real democracy, multimediaand technology are all about. Well,to tell you the Gospel truth, I felt Iwas twenty years behind schedule.

Yes, Lebanon was the center ofcommunication, trade, media andadvertising in the Middle East justbefore the civil war which tookplace in 1974.

Unfortunately, today our role hasbeen taken over by Dubai. I said tomyself, “I have to do somethingabout this situation.” So, back atmy normal teaching at NDU, I toldmy students, “You have to winback what belonged to you. It isnow your right to put pressure onyour handicapped government tobuild a media city like the one inDubai. This will secure for you

hundreds of jobs. Therefore a taskforce at NDU is on its way to beformed, having as its objective tocreate awareness and to act for anew ideology (Globalization of aMultimedia System having its Basein Lebanon). So watch out, guys,for the steps we are going to take!”

2. Interuniversity worldcompetition

Our senior students in theAdvertising and Marketing majorwill be competing with global andregional universities in acompetition sponsored by IAA,NDU being accredited by thisworld organization. The topic ishow to create Yahoo worldwide.I shall be acting as advisor for thiscontest, so wish us luck!

3. Werewolf

One of my students, PatriciaKeyrouz, worked on her seniorproject for graduation and thetopic was WEREWOLF EnergyDrink. She was so much in lovewith her outstanding project thatshe went and got a patent for thisnew product, and wishes tomanufacture it in Lebanon. Shewas graded 47 out of 50 on herproject. Who can say more?

4. Workshop on IMC

All Advertising and Marketingstudents were invited to theseminar held at NDU on February25th, sponsored by the LebaneseAdvertising Association (LAA), forwhich I act as General Secretary. Ithappened to be my birthday and Iam glad to have lived sixty yearson this planet, out of which fifteenhave been spent at NDU.

5. British Council

Two students from NDU are beingselected to do a research study onthe Advertising Agencies operatingin Lebanon. The LAA will pay them300 dollars each on a monthlybasis until the project is completed.A seminar will be held in thisregard, with Mr. Ibrahim Tabeth(CEO – DDB Advertising Agency)and myself. The date will beannounced soon.

6. New book on Creativityin Lebanon

This will be my fifth book onAdvertising and my last hope. Itshould be published in one yearfrom now. NDU students will becontributing to this publication. Thetitle will be Best CreativeCampaigns in Lebanon.

Extra-DimensionalActivitiesat the School of HumanitiesKamal Darouni

government to reach out to Muslimand Arab audiences, saying thatthe effort to create mutualunderstanding between the tworegions “needs to be long-term”(‘Boucher Reviews U.S. PublicDiplomacy to Muslim World’,August 27, 2002).

How can the negative image of theUnited States in the Arab world bechanged?

To answer this question we need toknow the real reason behind thisimage, or, as the French say, weneed to know le pourquoi de lachose. We also need to listen tothe people in all the countriesinvolved.

As we know in the Arab world, thesource of this anger is notAmerican values. American valuesare highly appreciated by the Arabpublic, especially democracy,freedom of speech, and women’seducation. The main source of thisanger is U.S. foreign policy,particularly:

— The Arab-Israeli conflict.— Iraq.— U.S. military presence in the

Gulf.To improve America’s image in the

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At no other time in history hasAmerica’s image been as gravelytarnished as it is today. The extentof anti-American sentiment isgrowing and it runs very deep.

I am concerned about the imageof the United States in the Arabworld. I am especially concernedas a professor who teaches in theArab world, as someone whoteaches about image and knowsthe impact of image. I also knowthat this negative image isdangerous, for it affects therelationship between Americansand Arabs, and thus must beimproved.

Steven Nader, Director of Foreignand Security Studies at theProgressive Policy Institute, wrote:“America is losing a different kindof war: the fight to gain andmaintain a positive image in theArab world. America’s image is sobadly distorted in many Muslimcountries, especially in the MiddleEast.”

It is important for the United Statesto pay attention to this problem inorder to avoid millions of Arabsbeing alienated through amisunderstanding of United Statespolicy. This is why the U.S.

Administration launched a majorcampaign to improve its image inthe Arab world after the September11th terrorist attacks in the UnitedStates.

To win over Arab public opinion,the United States government haslaunched a new effort, an FMradio station called Radio Sawa(Together), and a televisionchannel called Alhurra (The FreeOne), financed by Congress. RadioSawa, a 24/7 commercial-freestation, has been broadcastingentertaining contemporary Araband Western pop tunes across theMiddle East since March 2002.Alhurra, a commercial-free Arabicsatellite television network for theMiddle East, has beenbroadcasting news andinformation, in addition toreporting on regional andinternational events, since February2004.

According to the Washington Post,the Bush Administration also set upa separate Department, the Officeof Global Communication, inorder to improve the U.S. imageabroad (July 30, 2002). U.S. StateDepartment spokesman RichardBoucher commented upon theefforts of the United States

America’s Imagein the Arab WorldDr. Najah Abdallah,Assistant Professor, NDU

Arab world, an in-depth study ofArab public opinion is needed. Asurvey with a definite purposeneeds to be developed to learnmore about the specific reasonsbehind anti-Americanism in theArab countries, and about how itcan be reduced.

I believe in education and in thevalue of creating a civic societythrough education. The role ofeducation is of great importance. Ibelieve that the Arab countriesneed help to improve theireducational systems. I also believethat through education we givepeople a chance to becomeinformed and active participants intheir societies. For example,creating U.S. cultural centers andlibraries can be of benefit.

A strong strategy of engagementbased on three policies willimprove America’s image:

— A policy of communicationtargeting the public at large.

— A policy of education targetingthe younger generations.

— A cultural policy targeting boththe younger and oldergenerations.

This goal will be challenging butachievable.

We, in Lebanon, are becoming too materialistic and impersonal in ourpersonal and institutional communication. We can stand outside andcriticize, bring pressure, write memos and argue, and this might do somegood, or we can get deep inside our selves to improve our innercommunication with God first and our oral communication with our fellowmen second and bring about a dramatic constructive change to ourpersonal communication and institutional conduct. The choice is ours, allthe reason why for those interested in the second choice I have listedsome leading points bellow.

1. WHAT to communicate with each others depends upon our knowledgeand perception; HOW we communicate is an acquired skill.

2. WHAT to communicate is not as important as HOW to communicateour message.

3. What matters is the way we deliver our message to our audience, be itone person or a group of people.

4. There are FOUR basic rules for personal and institutionalcommunication:a. Rule No. One: In a group there is always one main speaker, andall the others are listeners.b. Rule No. Two: In our communication we should learn to CARE andSHARE for the good of all.c. Rule No. Three: We must learn that listening is an active processthat demands concentration and control. We must know that silence islight, and that light is wisdom, and that verbosity is darkness and theweapon of the ignorant.d. Rule No. Four: Try to follow the above rules.

To prove the validity of the above rules I will provide the reader with thefollowing fundamentals of communication:

1. Definition of COMMUNICATION:— The prefix COM- in Latin means “WITH”— The root MUNUS means a service performed for culture.— Therefore, human communication is sharing experience publicly for the

common good.

Personal and InstitutionalCommunication SkillsProf. Naji Oueijan

— To SHARE is to CARE, and toCare is to LOVE those youcommunicate with.

— In your personal life youcommunicate with those youshare the best and worst oftimes—family members,relatives and friends—foralmost half of your active life.

— In an institution those youcommunicate with are thoseyou work and live with thesecond half of your active life.

— The level of give-and-take andadvise-and-consent required formutual satisfaction anddecision-making becomesdestructive rather thanconstructive unless we learn toCARE, SHARE, and LOVE.

2. Facts about LISTENING:— Listening all over the world

accounts for over 40% of ourdaily communication.

— In Lebanon, listening is notmore than 20%. WE ARE ALLSPEAKERS.

— Children learn by listening.— Nature demands that we learn

first by our senses: Listening,watching, tasting, smelling, andtouching. Speaking is not oneof these senses. Speaking is anacquired skill. But how can youlearn the skill if you do notlearn how to listen?

— A few of us are good listeners.Why?• Studies indicate that most of

us listen at about 25-45%comprehension because mancan understand up to 400w/m, and an averagespeaker communicates about150-200 w/m. The time andspace lags divert our attentionin two ways:1. We dive into ourinterpersonal thoughts.2. We react before thespeaker is over.3. In Lebanon No. 2 is moreprobable.

3. Qualities of a goodSPEAKER:

1. S/he must be a good listener.2. S/he must have self-confidence

and control:Self-confidence is a result ofknowledge.Self-control is achieved whenthe speaker possesses a non-offensive spirit when confronted.

3. S/he must have rhetoricalsensitivity or a transparenthumanity; i.e., s/he must understand and satisfy theneeds of her/his audience.

4. S/he must have absolutehonesty, an authentic desire toshare experience, no hiddenmeanings, and an absence ofhypocrisy, duplicity and verbalsuperficiality.

5. S/he must be humble:Man should fight the battle ofPRIDE, the battle of:

IME

MINEMYSELF

PRIDE says: “Be superior,promote yourself.”

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Christianity says:”Be humble,control yourself even when youare hurt.”In Peter 1 Chapt. 2:20-24 weread: “For what credit is thereif, when you sin and are harshlytreated, you endure it withpatience? But if when you dowhat is right and suffer for itpatiently, endure it, this findsfavor with God.” In Prov. 28:25we read “An arrogant man stirsup strife, but he who trusts inthe Lord will prosper.” Thus tofight the battle of pride

a. Be a giver rather than a getter.b. Be a forgiver rather than a

condemner.c. Be a forgetter rather than a

prosecutor.

4. S/he must be wise:King Soloman gives us counsel onsome of the things wise men do:a. They build: “The wise woman

builds her house...” (Prov. 14:1)b. They watch their tongues and

heal rather than hurt: “Pleasantwords are a honeycomb, sweetto the soul and healing to thebones” (Prov. 16-24).

c. They are slow to anger: “He whois slow to anger is better thanthe mighty” (Prov. 28-25).

Conclusion:C. R. Swindell says: “Our worldhas become a large, impersonal,busy institution. We are alienatedfrom each other. Althoughcrowded, we are lonely. Distant.Pushed together but Uninvolved.”I say: “If we do not want to feellonely, distant, pushed, anduninvolved, we must think of theabove. We must listen, smile, andthen speak.”

ReadingK.J. Mortimer

If there is no art in writing, there isno pleasure in reading. One hearslittle now of people who are greatreaders, and by that I meanpeople who love to spend theirtime with a book in their hands.Now one may blame television, butafter all there is nothing moreboring than to sit passively in frontof a screen where everything isshown in detail and there is nostimulus for the imagination. Yes,there are very occasionalprogrammes where learning abouthistory, the revelation of the sheerbeauty of ballet or a certainexcitement or “suspense” may holdone for a certain time, but nothingthat may grip one for many hourslike a good book.

The real reason for the decline inreading is the decline in writing. Ofcourse, there never has been somuch newsprint. When I was last inLondon, I saw newsagent’s shopsstacked to the ceiling with whatmust have been tons ofnewspapers and magazines. Butafter a quick glance I could only

regret that all the paper had notbeen left as living forest inScandinavia to host the nestingbirds and the leaping squirrels,somewhere where shafts ofsunlight pierced deep shadow andresinous “incense hung along thebough.”

It is continually dinned into ourears that this is the InformationAge. But it is not the Reading Age.The great books of the past, booksof philosophy, religion, history orscience, were also books of beautyof style. Who, having once read St.Augustine’s Confessions, can everforget “Late have I loved thee,Ancient Light!” or “My prayer usedto be, Give me purity Lord – butnot yet!” Just you try putting suchthoughts in so few poignant words!

Allow me to expand on mymeaning. If I want to enjoyreading, I might turn to OscarWilde’s prose poem TheNightingale and the Rose. If I wantsome information aboutnightingales I will heave Tome XV

of Pierre-P. Grassé’s Traité dezoologie down from my shelf(good for the muscles) but,although I might find out I want toknow, it is doubtful whether I findthe literary style so deeplytouching.

I have in my possession, yellowedand frayed, some cuttings fromThe Observer and the Listener thatdrew my attention anythingbetween thirty and forty years ago.I read them for the umpteenth timewith pleasure, even an article onsuch an apparently forbiddingsubject as English hedgerows.When I was in London a few yearsago, I bought all the “quality”papers – certainly not the tabloidsin which the most exhaustiveresearch fails to reveal one literatesentence – but even so I did notfind one article that I could forcemyself to read to the end. In fact, ifany single one of them had beencut off in the middle, I would nothave noticed it, so poor was thecomposition.

The blurbs on paperback best-sellers often draw attention to thelurid sex scenes to be foundbetween the covers – love, onenotices, seems to be out of date. InKai Lung’s Golden Hours by ErnestBramah there is a scene where thestory-teller Kai Lung is in prison,condemned to be tortured to

death. Through a tiny hole high inthe wall he speaks with thebeautiful Hwa Mei, the GoldenMouse. Finally by standing on tip-toe they manage to make theirfingers touch. The delicacy of theauthor’s pen perfectly matches thesensitivity of the occasion; this isthe sort of description oneremembers. When I was sixteen Iread that whole book once a weekfor a whole year and I have nevertired of it. There are not many TVseries that I would like to see frombeginning to end fifty times over.

There are two fairly recent booksthat I keep by my bedside andwhich I savour repeatedly. One isThe Day of the Jackal, by FrederickForsyth. You may well imagine thatI am not the sort of person whogenerally devours thrillers, but thisis a thriller with a difference, andthe difference is superb writing.The descriptions are in suchEnglish that one’s imaginationcreates the scenes in a way farfrom the passivity of watching TV.Sir Winston Churchill wrote of

General de Gaulle, who in 1943was on bad terms with the Britishand particularly the Americans,who refused to accept him: “But Ialways recognised in him the spiritand conception which, across thepages of history, the word ‘France’would ever proclaim. I understoodand admired, while I resented, hisarrogant behaviour. Here he was –a refugee, an exile from hiscountry under sentence of death,in a position entirely dependentupon the goodwill of the BritishGovernment, and now of theUnited States. The Germans hadconquered his country. He had nofoothold anywhere. Never mind;he defied all.” It was said later thatthe trouble when dealing with deGaulle was that if you disagreedwith him he thought you an idiotand if you agreed with him hethought you a coward.Correspondents declared thatwhen as President he was in apalatial hall with other heads ofstate, one had the feeling that thewhole building was tilting to theside where he stood. Here is how

Forsyth makes you feel the dignitythat surrounded President deGaulle: “...the usher stood back tolet the minister pass into the Salondes Ordonnances ... the doorclosed behind him without a soundand the usher made his stately wayback down the stairs to thevestibule. ... One of the floor-to-ceiling windows was open andfrom the palace garden came thesound of a wood pigeon cooingamong the trees. (Minister Frey isthen introduced into the privateoffice of de Gaulle, who receiveshim with courteous solemnity andthen reads the file the ministerpresents him.) From the top pocketof his jacket Charles de Gaulletook his reading glasses, put themon, spread the folder on his desk,and started to read. The pigeonhad stopped cooing as ifappreciating that this was not themoment.” What a wonderfultouch! But Forsyth brings all thescenes of rural France and of Paristo life with the same dexterity.

Another book into which I am everdipping for the sheer delight of itsstyle is Nicholas and Alexandra byRobert K. Massie, about the lastczar and czarina of Russia.Whether Massie describes thebeauty of palace gardens or thedazzling but empty display of thecourt life of Imperial Russia, one isthere! “... in an atmosphere thick

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with the aroma of steaming clothesand boiling tea, the peasants sataround their huge clay stoves andpondered the dark mysteries ofnature and God. In the country,the Russian people lived their livesunder a blanket of silence.” “Overthe years, the shrubs had growninto lush and fragrant jungles.When the spring rain fell, thesweet smell of wet lilacs drenchedthe air.” What is more, the literarystyle of the diplomats and ofothers surrounding the czar is noless impressive. Something hasgone out of this world.

Decline in writing has beenaccompanied by a decline ofspeech. In 1850, Foreign SecretaryPalmerston made a speech thatheld Parliament in Westminsterspellbound for five whole hours.Remember that in the BritishParliament a member may refer tonotes but may not read his speech.What was the subject? The peopleof Athens had refused to paydamages after burning down thehouse of a Portuguese Jew who,having been born in Malta,claimed British citizenship, soPalmerston had sent the Britishfleet to bombard the city. QueenVictoria, Parliament and publiccould not help feeling that this wasgoing rather far, but in his famousspeech starting with St. Paul’s“Cives Romanus sum – I am citizen

of no mean city,” Palmerstontriumphantly vindicated himself.Frankly, I would need a moreinteresting subject to be carriedaway by enthusiasm after hearingPresident George Bush or PrimeMinister Blair speak for five hours.At the same time, one does nothave to go back two centuries tofind great oratory. I rememberhow we were electrified byChurchill’s speeches in 1940 andhis War Memoirs give fineexamples of discourse by otherMembers of Parliament.

It is not only English that haslanguished. I have old Frenchmagazines with articles about thedeath of Lally-Tollendal or someobscure crime in the court of a17th-century Hanoverian prince,stories in which I really feel nopersonal involvement. But onceagain it is the excellent writing bypeople of real culture that makesthe articles impossible to put downbefore one has finished. On theother hand, when last year I spenta few days in hospital, I wasbrought a current copy of a Frenchhistory magazine where there wasan article about the Allied landingsin Normandy in 1944. Here I didfeel personal involvement, becauseI was eighteen years old at thetime and following the news andalso because Churchill’s WarMemoirs is another literary

masterpiece which I never tire ofre-reading. But simply, all was“information”, with inserts listingthe horsepower of German tanksand other details, which I no moreenjoyed reading than I would haveenjoyed learning about the length,weight in grammes, etc., of thesword that hacked off Lally-Tollendal’s head. Not being aprofessional student of militaryhistory, I want my information tobe served up in a way that makespleasurable reading. Incidentally, Ivery much fear that the concernwith scientific accuracy rather thanstyle has spoilt the pleasure ofreading the Holy Bible. (Query:why isn’t the King James Versionobligatory study in all courses ofEnglish literature throughout theworld? In content and style it hashad far more influence than anyother book, not even exceptingShakespeare.)

Enough! Now I want to pick upImmortal Poems of the EnglishLanguage, The Day of the Jackal,Nicholas and Alexandra or Churchill.

Nothing would express the spirit of the following biographical essaysbetter than this French proverb. The idea is simple: history tells a lot ofstories about people leaving their studies or jobs to devote themselves toa certain activity they are destined to. But when this activity is art, the storybecomes particularly fascinating. And this minor detail, namely, thedrastic change from the previous job to art, is often ignored or at leasteclipsed in front of the significance of the artist’s works and style.Examples would include the famous painter Van Gogh, who had been inturn an art dealer, a French tutor, a theological student, and anevangelist before beginning to paint; post-impressionist painter PaulGauguin, an ex-stockbroker; composer Franz Schubert, an ex-assistantteacher (fortunately for romantic music fans); composer Hector Berlioz,who even left medical studies! More surprising is the coincidence thatmade the personalities presented hereafter leave law studies! Today, theyall preserve the title of “Maître”, however, not as lawyers but as artists;composers or painters, their contribution, innovation and popularity gobeyond all superlatives.

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“my one and only master…Cezanne was like the father of usall” and Matisse hailed him as “asort of God of painting”. In 1999,one Cezanne painting, “Still LifeWith Curtain, Pitcher, and Bowl ofFruit” (1893-94), was sold at anauction in New York for as muchas $60.5 million, nearly doublethe pre-auction estimate, and thefourth highest price ever paid foran artwork at a public auction (asof this writing). The previous recordfor a Paul Cezanne sold at auctionwas for “Les Grosses Pommes”,which went for $28.6 million in1993.

From law studies to art:The Great Masters madethe right decision.Samer CharabatiComp. & Com. Eng.

Chassez le naturel, il revient au galop…

but continued to study painting.The following year, he left his joband went back to Paris, where hemet Monet and Pissaro.

As his style matured, Cezannegradually withdrew from hisimpressionist colleagues andworked in increasing isolation inAix-en-Provence. During hislifetime, he did not achieve anygreat public recognition; his artwas largely misunderstood anddiscredited. Ironically, Cezanne’sinnovation remarkably influencedthe 20th century “modern”painters. Picasso regarded him as

Cezanne, Paul (1839-1906),French post-impressionist painter,“father of modern art”. Cezannebegan to study drawing andpainting at the age of 17 in hishometown Aix-en-Provence, but hisfather, an established banker,opposed the pursuit of an artisticcareer. Cezanne entered lawschool and he was simultaneouslyenrolled at the School of Design.In 1861, he persuaded his fatherto allow him to go to Paris, butreturned in the same year becausehis application to the Ecole desBeaux-Arts was rejected. Cezanneentered his father’s banking house

Matisse, Henri (1869-1954), mostimportant French painter of the20th century, one of the initiatorsof modern art through the Fauvistmovement. Despite the fact that hismother was an amateur painter,Matisse’s interest in art came late.After graduating from secondaryschool, he went for law studies inParis and after a year became aclerk in a law office. At the sametime, he began to sit in on anearly-morning drawing class. But asevere appendicitis was necessaryfor Matisse to devote himselfentirely to painting! During hisrecovery in the 1890, he paintedto help pass the time, and thefollowing year he decided to goback to Paris but this time tobecome a professional artist.

Influenced by Cezanne, Van Goghand Gauguin, Matisse combined aprimary color scheme with theprimitive approach to visualexperience, in which simplificationand distortion are means ofexpression. This resulted inFauvism for about the first decadeof the 20th century. But Matissepursued the expressiveness of colorthroughout his career. He achieveda balance between color, light,and form, presenting objects aspure forms in a two-dimensionalmanner. The ultimate step in hisart was taken in his colored papercut-outs realized during his last

years when he was often bedridden.Of these cut-outs, the Blue Nudeseries is extremely popular. UnlikeCezanne, Matisse gainedinternational reputation during hislifetime. He was also a sculptor anda decorator. He and Picasso rankamong the most revolutionaryartists of the 20th century.

Kandinsky, Wassily (1866-1944)Russian-born painter, one of thefirst creators of pure abstract art inmodern painting. Kandinsky grewup in a rather wealthy family. Hebecame an amateur performer onthe piano and the cello, and alsoan amateur painter. In 1886,Kandinsky began to study law andeconomics at the University ofMoscow, and in 1893 went on toearn the degree equivalent of adoctorate! During his studies, hefurthered his visual education; hewas sent on an ethnographicmission and, after a period ofteaching at the university, heaccepted a post as the director ofthe photographic section of aprinting establishment. Only in1896, when he was 30 years old,did Kandinsky decide to becomean artist. He refused aprofessorship in jurisprudence at auniversity in Estonia, and, in whathe called a “now or never” mood,he took the train for Germany withthe intention of becoming apainter.

Kandinsky invented a language ofabstract forms with which hereplaced the forms of nature. Hefelt that painting possessed thesame power as music and thatsign, line, and color ought tocorrespond to the vibration of thehuman soul. His forms evolvedfrom fluid and organic togeometric and, finally, topictographic (Tempered Élan,1944).

(For non-art fans Kandinsky’s namewould not seem as famous as thatof other painters; however hispaintings are extremely popularand easily recognizable especiallyfor their geometric shapes. When Ipresented the interview for myengineering summer training atPESCO Telecom, I was caught by aKandinsky poster hung in theentrance office of the company.)

Schumann, Robert Alexander(1810-1856) Great Germancomposer of surpassingimaginative power, whose musicexpressed the deepest spirit of theRomantic era. His father,bookseller and editor, and hismother pianist encouraged thechild’s inclination for literature andmusic. Schumann began pianolessons at the age of 10, but whenhe was 18 his father had alreadydied, and his mother wassuspicious of a musical career, so

Matisse Kandinsky Schumann,

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she decided that he should enrollat the University of Leipzig as alaw student. In Leipzig, he metpiano teacher Friedrich Wieck (hisfuture father-in-law) and becamehis student, without applyinghimself seriously to law. Thefollowing year, he asked hismother to register him at theUniversity of Heidelberg, a moremotivating environment for lawstudies. But again the young manleft his studies and returned toLeipzig, ambitious of becoming avirtuoso pianist. Schumann neverrealized his dream mainly due to apermanent injury to two of hisfingers. It was his wife Clara whobecame a famous concert pianistand a masterly interpreter of hisworks. Ironically, Clara’sreputation grew faster than his;after a performance, he was oftenintroduced to the public simply asher husband! Schumann was alsomuch involved in publishing musiccriticism; he discovered Chopinand later Brahms. He leftcompositions in most genres, but ismostly celebrated for his vocal andpiano works.

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich (1840-1893) Most popular Russiancomposer. The son of a middle-class mine engineer, Tchaikovskyreceived a good education andpiano lessons at the age of 8. At10, he was sent to the School of

Jurisprudence, and while studyinglaw and government he also tookmusic lessons. He graduated at 19and took a post at the Ministry ofJustice, where he remained forfour years, until he left his job andentered the newly establishedconservatory of St. Petersburg as acomposition student of AntonRubinstein.

As a Russian composer,Tchaikovsky stands apart from thenationalist group headed byRimsky-Korsakov and Balakirev,known as the Mighty Five, whojudged his music “not sufficientlyRussian”. The statement waswithdrawn and elucidated later byStravinsky. Tchaikovsky’s music isextremely melodious, colorfullyscored, and filled with romanticemotional fervor. If he isrecognized for his ballets SwanLake, The Sleeping Beauty, andNutcracker, his fame rests on atleast one masterpiece in everygenre: his operas Eugene Oneginand Queen of Spades are widelyperformed, and the same goes forhis symphonies No.4, No.5, andNo.6 (with its vibrating solo partfor bass trombone) and hisorchestral works. Equally admiredare the challenging piano concertoNo.1 and the violin concerto. Thepiano trio The Seasons for solopiano and many songs are ofequal quality.

Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971)Russian-born composer whosework had a revolutionary impacton 20th century music. Stravinskywas raised in an artisticatmosphere; he took piano andmusic theory lessons. Although hisfather was a famous opera singer,he was determined that his sonshould become a bureaucrat.Stravinsky studied law andphilosophy in the Faculty ofJurisprudence at Saint PetersburgUniversity. Luckily, his classmatewas Vladimir Rimsky-Korsakov, sonof the famous composer, to whomStravinsky showed his earlypeaces. Rimsky-Korsakov wassufficiently impressed and tookStravinsky as a private student.

By the age of 32, the success ofhis ballets The Firebird, Petrushka,and The Rite of Spring establishedStravinsky as one of the world’sleading composers. His music issensationally glittering, sometimesbarbaric; his striking rhythms weremost widely imitated. Stravinskyembarked on a new style, “neo-classicism”, music of theeighteenth-century viewed throughtwentieth-century eyes. He wasnicknamed “the Picasso of music”;the two figures are the “modern”artists everyone has heard of.

Tchaikovsky Stravinsky

Need for SpeedNathalie Kobrossi

Are we on a racing track or is this what life is about?

I understand that we live in a fast world where everything is quick;everybody is in a rush and “everywhere” can be reached. It is the cultureof “the most, the best, the fastest”. But what I do not understand is thatthe FAST virus has also contaminated students and particularly universitystudents.

At school, students dream of being older and get excited about finishingquickly to go to university, where in their opinion real life starts! Everyoneis free at university: choice of major, schedule and lifestyle.

Once they are at university, students do not really enjoy their universityyears: overload of courses, summer semesters and the like. They cannotwait to graduate! They are as excited as they were at school, this time in adifferent situation. However, the reason remains the same – to finish!

Why are these “Speedy Gonzales-es” in such a rush? Is the job alreadycalling them? However, the regret starts once one graduates and is notable to find a job. It is only at that moment that one will regret what onehas been doing with one’s life, just speeding up. University years are thebest years in a person’s life. There is no need for speed; one should liveone’s life here and now.

Speaking of graduation, see you guys there! Do not get me wrong. Ireally got the best out of my university years!

The mission statement of theFaculty of Engineering statesthat the Faculty endeavors tograduate engineers whounderstand the ethical, social,economic and environmentalcontext of their profession andwho apply their knowledgeand responsibility to developways to utilize the materialsand forces of nature for thebenefit of mankind.

To achieve this, newprograms in Civil,Mechanical, Electrical andComputer andCommunication Engineering,now in their fourth year, havefor objectives to preparestudents to enter immediatelythe professional practice ongraduation as well as topursue graduate study. Oneof their new components, theApproved Summer Training atthe end of the third year,made its debut in 2003-2004.

103 government agenciesand companies hosted 153NDU students.

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The outcome was considered tohave been extremely successfulby the hosts, as some haveextended part-time work and/orpromised future employment totrainees, and by the Facultymembers who evaluated thestudents’ training reports.

For graduate study, FE Alumniare continuing their educationin Lebanon and abroad andtheir performance has been acredit to NDU.

Our graduates wereinstrumental in affecting aMemorandum ofUnderstanding between theUniversity of Ulm and NDU,whereby among otherprovisions five graduatepositions are provided yearly toNDU graduates by theUniversity of ULM.

The peer assessment of ouracademic programs andoutcomes on the local andinternational level is one ofmany indicators that theadministrators, committees and

faculty members endeavor tostrengthen and extend further.

Acceptance of studentapplicants to engineering hasbecome progressively moreselective and this has enhancedthe faculty academicatmosphere, which is partlydetermined by the abilities andambitions of the student body.Enrollment in the Faculty ofEngineering is now 1005students.

Student branches ofinternational professionalsocieties have been active inarranging for technical talksand seminars by professionalengineers and for professionalvisits by members toengineering companies at theiroffices, plants and sites. Therewere about twenty-five suchactivities during the academicyear 2003-2004.

Our co-academic memberscontinue to provide instructionand project guidance for ourstudents in the state-of-the-artlaboratories and provide

professional material-testingservices. The number ofcommercial tests reached 1,118in 2004.

Faculty resources are beingincreased while high academicstandards are maintained.100% of full-time facultymembers are Ph.D. holders.Their research output is steadilyincreasing, with contributions tointernational refereed journalsin the USA and UK and tointernational conferences heldin North America, Europe andthe Middle East. Researchgrants from the NationalCouncil for Scientific Researchhave been made annually toEngineering Faculty members inthe areas of sea pollution,power systems and electricalenergy quality.

University experience “can’t bereduced to mere numbers.” Thedevelopment of this experienceis guided by the vision for FE tobe at the forefront ofEngineering Education inLebanon and the Middle East.

F.E. at a GlanceDr. Shahwan Khoury, Dean,Faculty of Engineering

Dr. EElias NNasser, Chairperson ofthe NDU Electrical, Computer andCommunications EngineeringDepartment, has been elected tothe position of Vice-Chairman ofthe Lebanon Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE)section.

The IEEE is the world’s largestprofessional organization and hasmore than 365,000 members. Thevision of the IEEE is to advanceglobal prosperity by fosteringtechnological innovation, enabling

members’ careers and promotingcommunity world-wide. The IEEEpromotes the engineering processof creating, developing,integrating, sharing, and applyingknowledge about electro- andinformation technologies andsciences for the benefit ofhumanity and the profession.

The IEEE is divided intogeographical regions and sections.Lebanon is part of Region 8, whichincludes Europe and the MiddleEast.

The Lebanon section of the IEEEwas established in November2004. The elections for theExecutive Committee took place inFebruary 2005. In addition to Dr.Nassar as Vice Chair, the electedcommittee consists of Dr. AAdnanAlaoui (AUB), Chair, Dr. HHadiSawaya (USJ-ESIB), Secretary, andMr. GGhassan SShaaban (Dar El-Handassah), Treasurer.

IEEE Lebanon SectionElectionsFrom the Department

IEEE Activities 2004-2005Ralph Ayoub,IEEE Student Branch Chairperson

For the academic year 2004-2005the aim of the IEEE NDU StudentBranch was to increase thenumber of student members by arecruitment campaign in October2004 under the title To US, IEEE IsEssential. New members were tobe recruited from NDU NorthLebanon Campus and ShoufCampus, where IEEE has not beenavailable. This campaign resultedin a 50% increase in membership.It ended on December 10 with aconference at which Mr. Rami T.Al-Mushcab, Industrial Relations

Officer in the IEEE Saudi ArabiaSection, met members and othersfrom different fields to enlightenthem about the value of IEEEmembership and about theimportance of the newly-openedLebanon section, confirmed just aweek previously.

The IEEE also organised manyseminars and collaborated in thetwo-day conference on Computerand Communications held on 22nd

and 23rd April, 2005 at the North

Lebanon Campus. Moreinformation may be obtained fromthe branch website www.ieee-ndu.org.

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The Scientific Conference forComputer and Communicationsponsored by the LebanesePresident, EEmile LLahoud, and theAssociation of “Al-Aazem wa Saada”began on Friday 22/4/2005 at10:15 am by the Lebanese anthem.After several speeches given byseveral guests of honor includingPresident Lahoud’s representativeMr. NNassif KKaloush, MMr. AAbd IIlahMikati, MMr. Salim KKaram, DDr.Shahwan KKhoury, DDr. SemaanGeorges and Dr. AAli HHarmush, the1st session began at 11:15 am andwas given by the two Armyengineers Muhammad AAl JJebawiand Robert MMansour. They discussedthe following subject:”Communication Systems Generallyused by Armies”.

Dr. MMajed KKhoder from MUTintroduced a new subject about“Nanotechnology Applications”and Dr. CClovis FFrancis from the LUtalked about “Compatibility inThird Generation GSM”.

The 2nd session started at 2:00 pmwith Dr. SSobhi BBou CChahine fromthe BAU, where he handled the“Low Cost Design of MicrowavePower Meter”. After him thedirector of signals and radars atthe Beirut International AirportAmin JJaber explained the“Navigation Systems used at BeirutAirport”. The 2nd session was

ended by the coordinator of theconference Dr. Ali Harmoush, whointroduced the “Controversy of theNew Antenna Technology”.

The 3rd and last session in the 1st

day was started by Dr. KKhaledMouwas from the CommunicationMinistry, GSM office, who explainedabout “Ogero, DSL Technology”.The last subject was handled byDr. Ali AAssi from AUT, whowondered about the possibility ofascertaining his dream inperforming a Semiconductor Industryat Lebanon.

The conference continued on the2nd day, Saturday 23/4/2005, at10 am. The 1st session was openedby the speech of the representativeof Moscow Technical University ofCommunication and InformaticsMTUCI, Dr. PPhiladimir SSocholov.After that, Dr. BBashar AAl HHasanfrom LU talked about “WirelessConnectivity”. Dr. MMustafa ZZiadeh,also from LU, explained theconcept of “Optical AmplifierDesign”. Dr. RRiad SSaba from UOBspoke about the “InformationSecurity; Opportunity orNightmare?”. The last sessiondetained at 12:15 pm opened withthe Engineer HHiba AAl CCheikh fromJinan University, who introduced a“Miniaturization of Folded DipoleAntennas”. Dr. EElias NNassar fromNDU discussed the “Biological

Effects of EM Fields” whileDr. Ahmad RRafii from CUT talkedabout the “Distribution of EM Fieldsin Microwave Oven”. The overallsummary was read by studentGeorge EEid (CCE) at 1:45 pm.

The scientific conference forcomputer and communication wasvery motivating since it was amixture of various importantsubjects. Although some of thepresentations were at a highscientific level, students were ableto understand and to gatherinformation on very importantsubjects that will surely help themin their future. Moreover studentshad the chance to meet and chatwith researchers from severaluniversities.

The Scientific Conference for Computer & Communication NDU, NLCInformation provided by DDrr.. AAllii HHaarrmmuusshhNNoouurr JJaaffffaann,, CCE student, NDU-NLC,RRaallpphh AAyyoouubb,, CCE student and IEEE student Branch Chairperson

Scientific Conference

In recent years there has been agrowing concern about the effectsof electromagnetic radiation fromcellular phones on the humanbody.

As the graphical representation inFigure 1 shows, making a phoneconnection involves two-wayradiation between the cellularphone and the base station. Theproblem lies in the fact that part ofthe electromagnetic wave radiatedby the phone impinges on thebody of the person using thephone. Of particular interest is theenergy that penetrates into theindividual’s head, which is theclosest part of the body to thephone and therefore receives thehighest level of radiation. Thisenergy that penetrates into thehead is known to cause heating ofthe head tissue and questions havearisen about whether it hascancerous effects [2,3].

There exist international standardsthat specify the maximum exposurelevels for the energy radiated intothe human body. The two mainsafety levels are published by theInternational Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection(ICNIRP) [4] and the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) [5]. The two specificationsare in terms of the SpecificAbsorption Rate (SAR) and arelisted below,

> ICNIRP Maximum SAR=2.0W/kg in 10 g of tissue.

> IEEE Maximum SAR=1.6 W/kgin 1 g of tissue.

The SAR is related to the amplitudeof the electric field in the body andthe properties of the body tissue. Itis computed using the followingformula:

where E is the electric field in V/m,σ is the conductivity of the tissue inS/m, and ρ is the density of tissuein kg/m3.

Extensive research has been doneand is still underway in order toobtain SAR values that result fromthe exposure of the human headto cellular phone radiation. Thesestudies use either computersimulations of the phone-headinteractions or experimentalmeasurements on physical modelsof the head. Findings to date aresummarized in reports publishedby the Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) [6], theNational Council on RadiationProtection (NCRP) [7], and the IEEEInternational Committee onElectromagnetic Safety [8] in theUSA and the Independent ExpertGroup on Mobile Phones [9] andthe Health Protection Agency [1] inthe UK.

)/(2

2

kgWE

SARρ

σ=

A Computer model can be used tosimulate the electromagnetic wavepropagation in and around thehead due to radiation from acellular phone.

Figure 2 shows a plot of themagnitude of the electric fieldradiated by the phone andpenetrating the head in a series ofsnapshots for several time instantsstarting from the top left to thebottom right. The time step isindicated above each plot [10].

Figure 3 shows the point SAR levelinside the head when the phone isin contact with the head. The scaleis shown to the right of the figure.Note that the highest levels are onthe side of the head closest to thephone location.

In Figure 4 the SAR level inside thehead is plotted versus locationinside the head. The left side of theplot corresponds to the side wherethe cellular phone is located. Thefour different curves are for fourdifferent separations of the phonefrom the head, i.e, 0 cm (solidline), 1 cm (stars), 3 cm (square)and 6 cm (cross). We note fromthis plot that for a separation assmall as 1 cm the SAR level dropsby a factor of 2.

Several companies have designedprotective devices such as capsand shirts made from conductive

Radiation from CellularPhones and Human HealthDr. Elias NassarElectrical, Computer and Communication EngineeringDepartment

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REFERENCES:[1] Health Protection Agency:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/

[2] RF Cleveland and JL Ulcek: Questionsand answers about biological effects andpotential hazards of radiofrequencyelectromagnetic fields. OET Bulletin 56,1999. Online at:http://www.fcc.gov/oet/info/documents/bulletins/

[3] JD Boice JD and JK McLaughlin:Epidemiological studies of cellulartelephones and cancer risk — A review.Stockholm, Swedish Radiation ProtectionAuthority, 2002. On line at:http://www.ssi.se/ssi_rapporter/pdf/ssi_rapp_2002_16.pdf

[4] International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection: Guidelinesfor limiting exposure to time-varyingelectric, magnetic and electromagneticfields. Health Phys 74:494-522, 1998.

[5] IEEE -C95.1, 1991: Safety levels withrespect to human exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, 3 kHzto 300 GHz. IEEE, Piscataway, NJ.

[6] Guidelines for Evaluating theEnvironmental Effects of RadiofrequencyRadiation (FCC 96-326), FederalCommunications Commission,Washington, D.C., 1996.http://wireless.fcc.gov/

[7] http://www.ncrponline.org/

[8] http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/scc28/

[9] Independent Expert Group on MobilePhones: Report on Mobile Phones andHealth. Chilton, Natl Radiol ProtecBoard, 2000. Online at:http://www.iegmp.org.uk/report/text.htm

[10] Elias M. Nassar and FakhreddineKeyrouz, “Investigation of Radiowavepropagation from Cellular Phones andMeans of Reducing its Effects on theHuman Head”, The 3rd Conference onModeling and Simulation in Biology,Medicine and Biomedial Engineering,University of Balamand, May 27-30,2003.

[11] Fabien Damien and George Ballan,Simulation of RF Shielding Devices,Engineering Project Report, ECCEDepartment NDU, Fall 2004.

[12] Manning and Densely, “On theeffectiveness of various types of mobilephone radiation shields”, online at:http://www.dti.gov.uk/industry_files/pdf/R500016att.pdf

[13] http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/sar/

[14] http://www.mmfai.org/public/sar.cfm

[15] http://oem.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/62/6/390

[16] http://www.who.int/peh-emf/en/

FURTHER READING:Mobile Phones and Health 2004: Report bythe Board of NRPB. Documents of theNRPB15:1-114,2004. Online at:www.nrpb.org/publications/documents_of_nrpb/abstracts/absd15-5.htm

ZJ Sienkiewicz and CI Kowalczuk: ASummary of Recent Reports on MobilePhones and Health (2000-2004). Chilton,National Radiological Protection Board,2005. Online at:http://www.nrpb.org/publications/w_series_reports/2005/nrpb_w65.htm

materials such as silver that aremeant to protect the phone userfrom radiation. A protective capwith flaps shown in Figure 5 wasevaluated for its shieldingeffectiveness using a computermodel of the hat. The SAR levelinside the head with the hat onand the flaps open was reduced bymore than 80% [11]. Several typesof radiation shields were evaluatedand results were reported byManning and Densley in [12].

Recently maximum SAR values fordifferent types of cellular phoneswere published and can be foundon the internet [13,14]. It isagreed that the lower the SARvalue for the phone the less itseffect will be on the head.

Research is continuing worldwideconcerning this issue but so far,except for a few studies mainly inSweden [15], no clear-cutconclusions have been reachedconcerning the harmful effects ofthis radiation. One reason for thislack of conclusive evidence is theshort period that cellular phoneshave been in use. For this reasoninternational bodies such as theWorld Health Organization (WHO)[16] have recommended aprecautionary approach to the useof cellular phones such asreducing the time the phone isused and moving the phone awayfrom the head; this approach isrecommended until furtherepidemiological study results areavailable.

Figure 1: Energy radiated by the cellular phone [1]Figure 2: The progression of the field radiated from thecellular phone as it starts from the phone antenna (time step80), penetrates the head (time step 320), is absorbed by thehead tissue (time step 600) and finally decays to zero (timestep 960).Figure 3: SAR levels inside the head when the phone is incontact with the headFigure 4: SAR levels inside the head for different separationsof the phone from the headFigure 5: Protective hat sold by handy-fashions.com

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Electric power system is the namegiven to a group of power-generating stations, transformers,switchgear and other electricalelements which are interconnectedvia overhead lines andunderground cables. Powersystems are designed to supplyconsumers with electric energy. Inthe early days, power generatorsproduced direct current (DC), whilsttoday alternating current (AC)prevails. In fact it was ThomasEdison, America’s most celebratedinventor, who first showed thatelectrical energy can be suppliedfrom generating stations to endusers via a transmission anddistribution system. Edison’smethod used low-voltage DC.However, it suffered from afundamental problem: at lowvoltage levels, the power loss in theline severely limits the distance atwhich electric power can beeconomically transmitted. In the1880 Edison two-wire lightingsystem, the voltage had to be fixedat 100 or 110 V for successfuloperation of the incandescentelectric lights. Consequently, theservice area was limited.

The solution was in AC powergeneration. The outstanding

advantage of AC systems rests onthe demonstration made in 1821by Michael Faraday that a time-varying magnetic field induces avoltage in a nearby wire. Faraday’sLaw implies that AC voltage can bestepped up or down by using atransformer. In 1886 WilliamStanley, with the backing ofGeorge Westinghouse, made thefirst American demonstration of anAC power system supplying electriclighting to twenty-five businesses.Stanley’s creation used animproved transformer design whichis the prototype for essentially allmodern-day voltage transformers.In 1888 Westinghouse heard ofTesla’s poly-phase AC motor andimmediately realized its importancefor the advancement of ACtechnology. Soon Westinghousepurchased Tesla’s AC patents andemployed him to work further ontheir development. Nikola Testa iswidely considered to be the fatherof the AC poly-phase system.

Tesla’s breakthroughs led to rivalrybetween the advocates of theEdison DC power system and theadvocates of the Westinghouse ACsystem, but AC quickly prevailed.The three-phase systems which arenow employed worldwide for

AC Versus DC Power SystemsDr. Rabih A. Jabr,Asst. Professor, ECCE Dept., NDU

generation, transmission anddistribution of electric power arebased on Tesla’s seminal work. Inmodern energy systems, three-phase transformers allow eachpart of the system to operate at itsoptimum voltage. Today,generators produce power at avoltage around 11 kV to 30 kV.Using step-up transformers,transmission can take place at 115kV, 230 kV, 345 kV, or evenhigher voltage levels. These highvoltages result in a drasticreduction in power transmissionlosses. The reason is twofold.Firstly, for the same power, as thevoltage is increased the current isdecreased by the same factor.Secondly, power loss intransmission lines is mainly due toresistive heating of the conductorsand is proportional to the squareof the current. For instance, a 345kV line carries one-third as muchcurrent as a 115 kV line if bothoverhead lines are transmitting thesame power. Thus, for the sameconductor size and power, the lossin the 345 kV line would be onlyone-ninth of that in the 115 kVline. In AC systems loads nolonger have to be restricted to thevicinity of the power-generatingstation. Loads can take power at22 V, 380 V, etc., as required by

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the consumer, again through theuse of step-down transformers.Another advantage of the AC ascompared to DC is that it is moreeconomical to construct a circuit-breaker to interrupt alternatingcurrent. The frequency of the ACsystem in Lebanon is 50 Hz. InEurope the frequency is also 50Hz, but on the American continentit is 60 Hz.

One may wonder if DC powersystems are still in operation today.In fact, DC transmission via cableshas found an interesting use inmodern power systems. Thereason is that AC transmission ofpower is highly advantageous onlywhen done via overhead lines. Ifthe transmission lines are takenunderground, the cables energizedwith AC voltage will suffer fromlarge charging currents whicheffectively limit the distance of ACpower transmission. The DC cableunder the English Channel is anexample which links the Britishsystem to the French system.

REFERENCES[1] J.A. Harrison, The Essence of Electric Power

Systems. London: Prentice Hall, 1996.[2] C.L. Sulzburger, “Triumph of AC from

Pearl Street to Niagara”, IEEE Power andEnergy Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3,May/June 2003, pp. 64-67.

National Grant for ECCEDept.The National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon has approvedfunding for the following research proposal presented by Dr. SS. GGeorgesfrom the ECCE Department at NDU in the academic year 2004 – 2005.

Title: Design of an active power filter for power qualityimprovement of the Lebanese network.Abstract: Power quality problems are becoming increasingly important in theLebanese power sector because of the changing nature of customer loads.Manufacturing processes are becoming more automated and electronic customerloads are becoming more sensitive to voltage variations. In addition, theincreased use of energy-efficient power electronic technologies along with stricterharmonic standards and limits are causing more harmonic problems than before.The main purpose of this research is to analyze, design and develop (in a laterstage) active filters for reducing the harmonic distortion in the Lebanese powerdistribution network, and to increase the power factor at critical connection points.Topologies will be chosen on the basis of collective real-world data and thedesign of new control schemes will be based on a Pulse Modulation Strategy. Theanticipated results of this research would show that the application of the activefilters contributes greatly to the improvement of power quality in Lebanon andincreases the efficiency of the transmission power systems by reducing technicallosses, which means savings in the total cost of operation

Project descriptionNowadays the use of static converters has become widely common, especially inthe industrial and domestic fields. Acting as nonlinear loads, these electronicinterfaces contribute to the deterioration of the main power quality, which ischaracterized by harmonic distortion in the supply voltages and currents. Thepresence of such undesirable harmonics may reduce the efficiency of thetransmission power systems (by increasing their technical losses) and damage theelectrical devices connected to the network (over-voltages, overheating, etc.). Inthe case of the well-known three-phase diode rectifier, the current Total HarmonicDistortion (THD) factor attains 31% for a highly inductive load, and can be muchhigher for a capacitive one. In order to increase the network efficiency and thereliability of the devices connected to it, harmonic distortion must be limited anddevices that ensure a high power factor are to be considered.

Project objectivesThe main goal of this research is to design, analyze and develop active filters thatwould eliminate undesirable harmonics, improve the quality of the electric power,increase the power factor at critical connection points, reduce technical losses inthe Lebanese power grid and decrease the operational cost.

The proposed solution can be applied to solve power quality problems in otherpower systems.

day [2]. In response to theincreasing demand on the system,the FCC (Federal CommunicationCommission) started an initiative tomake the 911 phone service moreeffective. This has come in theform of regulations requiring thetelephone companies to addfeatures to their phone networks toaid in the effective dispatch ofemergency services. In this case,the 911 dispatcher providesinformation such as the phonenumber and address of the 911caller. This is a great help insituations where a 911 caller doesnot know his or her location, isdisoriented or even becomesunconscious during the call.

With the rapidly increasingpopularity of wireless phones,more and more emergency phonecalls are being made over thewireless phone network. In 1994 inthe United States, almost 18million wireless 911 phone callswere made [2]. The total numberof cellular subscribers in the UnitedStates currently exceeds 33 millions

I. INTRODUCTIONThe use of location information toadapt the applications to thecurrent location and provide theuser information that is relevant tothe current situation is afascinating concept. It is based onthe fact that the relevance of theinformation is closely related to thelocation. In fact, the developmentof wireless communication systemsavailable today for mobileenvironments and the evolution ofsmaller and more powerful mobilecomputing devices provide theprerequisites to access informationanywhere at any time.

For these reasons, it is desirable toestablish a mobile location servicefor cellular phones. Such a serviceshould have the followingrequirements [1]:

— The location information mustbe unique within the wirelessnetwork coverage.

— The accuracy must bereasonable – within a fewhundred meters.

— The position must be calculatedwithin a few seconds after thebeginning of the call.

— The location information shouldbe shown on the map.

— Uncertainty in the locationinformation should also beshown on the map, so that thesystem can ask for additionalinformation to decide.

This article describes briefly thedifferent applications andtechniques in the mobile locationfield as well as their feasibility.

2. ENHANCED 911 SERVICEFOR CELLULAR SYSTEMSThis section gives a brief overviewof the Enhanced 911 (E911)regulation for wireless serviceproviders.

The 911 emergency calling systemwas introduced in 1968 and hassince become a very importantfactor in providing effectiveemergency service. In the UnitedStates, approximately 260,000911 phone calls are made every

MOBILE PHONELOCATION Jinane Mounsef, ECCE DepartmentComputer & Communication Engineer, M.E., Lab Instructorat NDU, Faculty of Engineering.

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and in a recent survey 62% ofcellular users said safety andsecurity were their main reasonsfor getting a wireless phone [2].

Despite this, most cellular serviceproviders only support the mostbasic 911 services. As a result, theFCC passed in 2001 the followingregulation: by October 1, 2001,all cellular service providers mustbe able to determine the longitudeand latitude of a 911 caller withina radius of 125m.

3. APPLICATION AREASThere are millions of handhelddevices such as mobile phones andPDAs (Personal Digital Assistant) inuse today. Because of the mobilenature of these devices, there aremany occasions where it would bean advantage to know the currentlocation of the device. This locationinformation can be used to provideall kinds of value-added servicesthat we could not have dreamedabout before. These include newkinds of advertising, navigation,

and information services. By usingthe location information, theapplications can better adaptthemselves to the environment andprovide the user useful informationthat is relevant to the currentsituation of the user. Suchapplications that use the locationinformation are called locationaware and the whole concept iscalled location awareness.

a. BillingLocation-based billing provides thepossibility for operators to billdifferent rates based on thelocation. This could mean that youget cheaper calls at predefinedareas, for example at home and atoffice. You could also change yourpredefined areas by sending amessage to the operator. Otherexamples of billing could beautomatic billing at theatres,cinemas, trains and busses. Theseservices would be based onproximity awareness. An exampleof this kind of service is shown infigure 1 [3].

b. SafetySafety area includes many possibleapplications. Most attention hasbeen given to emergency calllocating. Since FCC has orderedevery mobile 911 emergency callin the United States to be locatedwithin 125m on the 1st of October2001, this has created a need forthe wireless operators to developand take into use the locationtracking services. Figure 2 showsan example of safety service. Also,different kinds of push services thatprovide information or warningscan be implemented. This couldmean, for example, that, if therehas been a toxic waste accident,all the people in the area could beadvised to stay inside. [3]

c. InformationInformation providing has endlesspossibilities in location-awareapplications. Location informationcan be used to help in navigationwhile traveling or provideinformation about where is thenearest restaurant or flower shop.

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Figure 1. Currency change using currentlocation.

Figure 2. Calling 911 using current location.Figure 3. Finding nearest hotels using

current location.

Tourist guides that use locationinformation can show backgroundinformation about the currentposition of the tourist. Otherinformation services could includethings such as traffic warnings oradvertisements pushed to thehandset as seen in figure 3 [3].

4. LOCATION TECHNOLOGIESGSM (Global System for MobileCommunications) already hassome rudimentary locationcapability. The system knows thecell site/sector where an activeGSM user is currently located. Forsome location services, thegranularity is sufficient. Bycombining this information withtiming advance measurements, it ispossible to fix the user’s locationeven further. In fact, location-based services use one of severalavailable position-fixing methods,all of which have their limitations.Some require the SIM (SubscriberIdentity Module) card, or even themobile terminal itself, to bechanged, whereas others requirechanges at the network level. Theways in which the chosen methodaffects the global telecom networkwill have a direct impact on theoperator’s investments.Consequently, the aim is tominimize such an impact [4].

The different location technologiescurrently being examined by thewireless telecommunicationsindustry are Enhanced ObservedTime Difference (E-OTD), TimeDifference of Arrival (TDOA), andAngle of Arrival (AOA). Thesetechniques are called networkbased technologies since thenetwork needs to be upgraded withadditional base stations (antennas)that are used for time calculationof the signal transmission andreception. Therefore, distance isdeduced. The other examinedtechniques are GPS and A-GPS.They are called handsettechnologies since the handsetneeds to be upgraded with a GPSsystem that communicates withsatellites and determines thedistance of the caller. The firstcategory has in general a goodindoor as well as outdoorperformance. However, the maindisadvantage consists in the hugeexpenses of upgrading theinfrastructure. As for the secondcategory, its main disadvantageconsists of its poor indoorperformance because of satelliteinvisibility [5].

5. ConclusionMobile phone location is achallenging problem. There aretwo main criteria that must be metwhen developing a mobile location

system. The first is to develop asystem that can reliably producemobile location estimates under allcircumstances. The secondcriterion is that the system shouldrequire little or no modifications ofthe base stations and preferablyno modifications at all of themobiles. The reason for this is thelarge investment that has alreadybeen made in existing GSMinfrastructure. There are alreadythousands of base stations andmillions of mobiles in use. Even asmall modification of thisequipment would be veryexpensive.

REFERENCES[1] Svein Yngvar Willassen, “A method for

implementing Mobile Station Location inGSM”, December 1998.

[2] Federal Communications Commission,“Revision to the commission’s rules toensure compatibility with enhanced 911emergency calling systems”, July 1996,CC Docket No. 94-102.

[3] Motorola, “Location ServicesDemonstrator”, August 2001.

[4] Stephen Hayes, “Location Services, just amatter of time!”, ETSI Mobile News,2000 GSM World Congress.

[5] Jaako Lahteenmaki, Heikiki Laitinen, andTero Nordstrom, “VTT InformationTechnology”, 2001.

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“Programming is the ultimate sportof the mind”: this is the slogan ofthe International CollegiateProgramming Contest (ICPC) thatbrings together the brighteststudents of the world in aprestigious competition. TheAssociation of ComputerMachinery (ACM) has beenorganizing this event since the‘seventies, and this year a total of4,109 teams representing 1,582institutions of higher educationparticipated worldwide. Onlyseventy-eight teams advanced tothe world finals, held in Shanghai,China.

As undergraduate students fromNotre Dame University, we had theopportunity to participate in theArab and North African RegionalCompetition (ANARC), where onlyone team qualified for the finals.The regionals took place at KuwaitUniversity, and our team, “TeamNDU”, consisted of threeengineering students, namely AadCharles, Bechara CCharly andChemali KKarim.

We ran on a very tight schedulefor the three days and we didn’thave much spare time. Weparticipated in the openingceremony and attended a talk onmapping the Internet and Intranetsby Bill CCheswick and another talkabout the contest rules and thejudging system. Furthermore, weparticipated in an official trainingsession for the teams. As for thecontest, it lasted exactly five hours.We felt under a lot of pressure.

Regional ACM CompetitionNDU Computer and CommunicationEngineering Students Participate.Charles Aad,CCE student

We left Lebanon on Tuesday, 30th

November in the afternoon andwere back on Friday, 3rd

December. We were given a greatwelcome by ACM volunteers fromKuwait University. We stayed in theSafir Palace Hotel, almost twentyminutes from the competition site.The hospitality of the organizerswas amazing, for they were keenon assisting us in every detail andwe were very well treated.

A general view of the teams taking part in the ACM competition in Kuwait University.

Each team received a set of nineproblems and had to solve amaximum number of theseproblems on a single computer.Our team, bearing the NDUname, was taking part for the firsttime. We faced very challengingopponents and achieved“Honorable Mention”, doing betterthan some teams participating forthe second time! The awards weredistributed in the evening in theChamber of Commerce. A formaldinner was also including, takingthe form of a farewell party for theteams. All the judges, participants,volunteers and helpers in thissuccessful event were honored atthis celebration. We headed backto Beirut the next morning.

We had the opportunity to meetstudents from the region and learnabout their skills, experience andcultures. We also had the goodfortune to meet the contestdirector, researchers from variouscountries around the world, andfaculty members from renowneduniversities in the region. Inaddition, we had a close look atthe Kuwait University campuses,which are really breathtaking.

Most importantly, we learned toplan our programs and to alwaystest them with multiple inputs toensure their correctness andvalidity. Furthermore, wedeveloped our recursion skills,worked on an online judgingsystem, and tackled new problemsin the programming domains.

Last but not least, we would alsolike to thank our parents, NotreDame University, the Faculty ofEngineering with its DeanDr. Shahwan KKhoury, the EE andCCE Department and its chairmanDr. EElias NNassar, and the Facultymembers. Without all their helpand support, this dream of ourswould have never been a reality.

The ICPC is held yearly. Thenumber of participants is growingevery year. We were pleased toface the challenge and torepresent our institution in such alarge-scale event. It was a newand fruitful experience thatexposed us to new horizons inacademia. We were the first toparticipate on behalf of NDU, butwe certainly hope for ourUniversity to have furtherrepresentation in the future.

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Mechanical Engineering Programat NDU has developed into what itis now, thanks to the efforts of itsfaculty, students, graduates of theprevious years (who number 141since the start in 1995) and thesupport of the University.

The Department has grown to 230students served by four full-timefaculty members and three part-timers. All seven faculty membershold PhD degrees in the field oftheir specialties from Europe, theUnited Kingdom, Canada,Australia and the USA. Amongthem, five, or over 70%, areCanadian, Australian and US dualnationals.

Strong participation in professionalactivities by the faculty includedpresentations of papers ininternational conferences andadvising in industry as well asparticipation in the LIRA-Program(Lebanese Industrial ResearchAchievements-Program). Facultyand students are involved inactivities in the local chapters of

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT NDU,

TODAY AND A LOOK TOWARDS THE FUTURE…..Dr. Walid C. AssafChairman of Department

the American Society ofMechanical Engineers (ASME) andthe American Society of Heating,Refrigeration & Air ConditioningEngineers (ASHRAE).

This coming Summer and Fall 05Semesters, the Department willhost its first Fulbright Fellow, whowill be working on The Design of aRobotic Manipulator System for In-Service Oil Tank Inspection.

Through careful choice of electivecourses, students may graduatewith a Bachelor of EngineeringDegree in Mechanical Engineeringwith emphasis in one of thefollowing four areas ofspecialization:

— Controls & ElectromechanicalSystems ( Mechatronics )

— Manufacturing and JoiningProcesses

— Energy Conversions, Power &Environmental Systems

— Advanced Studies in ThermalScience and Solid Mechanics

Graduates of the program areemployed in industry andconstruction. Some have goneabroad for advanced degrees inthe Mechanical Engineering fieldas well as in Naval Science andAeronautics.

Demand for graduates remainshigh and is expected to continuethis way in view of the rising costsof energy and the increasingconcerns on environmental issues.

Mechanical Engineering at NDU istaking advantage of the commonuse of computer codes in design,manufacturing and controls andexpects further pressures moving inthis direction, from a change tocomplete automated laboratoriesfor instruction to fullyprogrammable class rooms!

adjoining walls in order to recoverwaste energy by heating the wallspace during winter months beforeexhausting to the atmosphere.)

Fourth, a waste-wood burner isused to add heat to the storagetank. Waste wood is availablefrom the adjoining four acres offorest surrounding the house.

A wealth of practical information

Heating System withStorageDr. Walid C. Assaf

Central to this system, as shown inthe diagram, is a well-insulated1.8 cubic meter hot-water supplyand storage tank, one squaremeter in cross sectional-area and1.8 meters long. This tank is usedto store heated water from severalsources of heat energy.

First and foremost among thesesources of heat energy are the sixsquare meters of flat passive solarabsorbing panels that supplyheated water through a closedcircuit heat exchanger immersed inthe storage tank.

Second, three, 3-phase, 1000watt each, electrical heaters areinserted into the storage tank andsupplied by city electric linesand/or stand-by generator.

Third, a hot-water line is routedfrom the boiler-fuel oil burner unitto circulate through a heatexchanger adding to the energystored in the 1.8 cubic meter watertank. (note: the hot gases leavingthe burner are passed through

has emerged from the experienceof operating this system, not theleast of which lies in the choice ofmaterials and in the sequence ofoperation. A comprehensiveengineering analysis that includesfuel burning and water-flow rateswill be made available to thoseinterested in the design andconstruction of such systems at alater date.

In point of fact, a home-made heating system with thermal storage andwaste heat recovery was put together by the author from locally availablematerials and built-up units. After 18 years of operation this system hasproven its worth in terms of comfort heating and an overwhelminginexpensive supply of hot water.

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Founded in 1880 as The AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers (AS M E), today’s A S M E is acommunity of 120000 membersdealing with professional,educational and research issues ofengineering and technology. Thegoals of this society are to promoteand enhance the technicalcompetency and professional well-being of the members, throughquality programs and activities.The headquarters and servicecenter are located in New YorkCity, U S A.

As a member of the A S M E, youreceive many benefits, such as amechanical engineering magazine,the A S M E newspaper, andaccess to the publications, whereyou can find the latesttechnological information and afull database, which includes 21technical journals. Also as amember, you receive up to 20% ofdiscount on subscription to suchmaterials. Furthermore, you cantake courses and be up-to-date oncutting-edge technology via thecontinuing education program.

The N D U chapter of A S M E isone of only two chapters inLebanon. The society’s advisor is

Dr. GGhazi AAsmar, and there is acommittee of five student membersformed of a president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, andstudent programmer. Eachacademic year a new committee iselected by student members.

The society’s aim is to promote theengineering profession throughconferences, field trips, andliterature, and through involvingstudents in engineering-relatedactivities, so providing its memberswith knowledge and experience. Asan A S M E member, you areentitled to all the publicationsoffered by the organization;furthermore you can participate inthe activities undertaken by the ND U chapter. The A S M E officelocated in the Engineering Facultycomplex is open during theregistration period to ease theregistration process for themembers. Currently A S M E has28 active members as of spring2005, and new applications arebeing processed.

Several activities were planned forthe academic year 2004-2005. Inthe fall semester 2004, a field trip toGeneral Manufacturing andMaintenance G M M (Nakad), amanufacturing firm, took place. Inaddition, two symposia were held byMitsulift engineers and MMrr.. AAnnttoouunnDDaaoouu from Rice University (U S A).These symposia were organized withthe collaboration of anotherengineering organization oncampus (I E E E). Also, a video CDof the mechanical engineering labproject was recorded and distributedto students and faculty members.Along with the academic activities, AS M E participated in the NDUChristmas fiesta as an extra-curricular activity to raise funds andencourage membership enrolment.

Many more activities were plannedfor the spring semester 2005,among which were field trips to theLitany hydraulic power plant, theGeorgio Refrigeration Group,IVECO Truck Dealership, andMaster Pack.

The American Society ofMechanical EngineersA S M ECharbel WehbePresident A S M E, N D U Chapter

A S M E committee: From left to right,Wissam Rashed (Student Programs), CharbelWehbe (President), Dr. Ghazi Asmar(Advisor), Ralph Saade (Vice-President), andJad Maalouf (Secretary). Not photographed: Rawad Eid (Treasurer).

A student majoring in mechanicalengineering at NDU is required totake courses which form part of asubject commonly known inengineering as Solid Mechanics.Every serious university possessinga mechanical, aerospace or civilengineering program includes, inits course curriculum, the study ofthis subject, which is necessary forthe formation of skilled engineersand able researchers. In theDepartment of MechanicalEngineering at NDU, courses insolid mechanics range fromelementary mechanics of materialsto more advanced topics infracture mechanics, withoutneglecting subjects such asvibrations and design. What, then,is solid mechanics and why is it offundamental importance to would-be engineers and graduatestudents?

Loosely speaking, solid mechanicsis the study of deformation ofbodies – solid bodies – under theaction of loads (e.g., forces andpressures), a sort of cause andeffect on structures. One synonymof the word “mechanics” would be“behavior”. Thus, solid mechanicsis the study of the behavior ofsolids when they are subjected toloads.

Avionics is the integration ofvarious hydraulic and electronicsystems to provide guidance andcontrol.

Finally, the many components thatmake up an airplane need to staytogether, i.e., the structure has toremain in one piece, and this iswhere solid mechanics comes intoplay. Only through extensivestructural studies and designs ofthe whole aircraft (fuselage, wings,landing gears, etc.), are engineersable to produce a machine whichcan safely fulfill its intended task.For example, every time apassenger jet plane takes off andreaches its normal cruisingaltitude, the entire fuselageexpands due to the difference inpressure between the outside andthe inside of the cabin, the insideremaining at a pressure close to 1atmosphere and the outside being,of course, at a much lowerpressure. If the fuselage were notstrong enough to withstand the

Solid Mechanics and itsApplicationsDr. Ghazi Asmar,Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Unlike scientists who try tounderstand and explain thephenomena which occur in naturewith the help of science, engineersuse that science to build things forthe benefit of mankind. Moreover,they need to build them to be safe,reliable, efficient and durable.

Anyone who has observed anairplane in flight will quickly realizethe importance of solid mechanicsfor such a complex system tofunction safely.

An airplane requires a means togive it forward motion, thusengines are placed on it. Thisconstitutes the propulsion part ofthe aircraft.

It needs to be lifted off the groundand remain above ground,therefore, it acquires wings largeenough to carry the structure in theair. This is the role ofaerodynamics.

It needs to be steered andcontrolled while in flight and onthe ground. Here is where avionicsplays the predominant role.

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high stresses that develop as aresult of such a deformation, itwould simply break in flight andthe plane would disintegrate.

Figure 1 shows the sections thatare normally assembled to formthe fuselage of a Lockheed Tristarpassenger jet. To the structuralengineer or the stress analyst, thefuselage represents what is knownin solid mechanics as a cylindricalshell.

Shells are curved surfaces in spacecapable of resisting relatively highloads. Domes, cylinders andspheres represent commonexamples of shells. Shells arestructures which derive theirstrength from their shape despitethe fact that they may be very thin.The amazing capability of achicken egg, which is a naturalshell, to withstand largecompressive forces at its poleswithout breaking is a well-knownillustration of the inherent

From artificial limbs to submarinehulls to aircraft fuselages and tallbuildings, solid mechanics formsan integral part of thoseengineering principles and is anecessary tool for the creativemind of the engineer.

A thorough knowledge of themechanics of beams, columns,frames, trusses, plates and shells,all of which are ingredients forstructures and machines intendedto facilitate and improve the livesof people, is a requirement for anyengineer involved in the designand analysis of such things.

Submarines, ships, cars, planes,trains and buildings are allstructures which are designed tocarry loads and which,consequently, are prone to failure,sometimes with disastrous results.It is, therefore, imperative topredict their behavior using toolsfrom science, mathematics andengineering. Solid mechanics is anengineering branch which isindispensable for their safe designand operation. Who would fly inan airplane knowing that at anymoment the wing may break?

resistance of a shell to loadingbecause of its form.

The Romans recognized thestrength of shells although they didnot, of course, have theengineering knowledge we possesstoday. Figure 2 shows a picture ofthe Pantheon in Rome, Italy, alongwith its dome, which spans adistance of 43.4m and rises to aheight of 21.6m. Arches anddomes were Roman structuresmany of which still exist today, nodoubt thanks to the skills of thebuilders of ancient times but alsobecause of their inherent strength.The same engineering principlesthat enable this impressive buildingto remain standing centuries afterit was built now protect the hull ofa submerged submarine againstthe crushing pressures of theocean depths or allow thepassengers of a large jet to travelin safety and comfort or even helpa person with a missing limb tolead a normal life through theimplantation of an artificialmember, an example of theapplication of engineering formedical purposes.

Fig. 1. Sections of an L-1011 LockheedTristar FuselageFig. 2. The Pantheon in Rome, Italy

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During the past 100 years we haveconsumed more of the earth’sresources than our ancestors did inthe previous thousands of years.

The materialistic and energy-hungry life-style has causedenormous damage to the earth’senvironment.

Many researchers andenvironmentalists are directing theirefforts towards renewable energysources as a replacement for fossilfuel and nuclear power. Harnessingthe power of the sun becomes anattractive clean alternative tosmoke-belching fossil-fuelmachines.

This article, which is divided intothree parts, addresses the issuesinvolved in the utilization of solarenergy and indicates the state ofthe art in Lebanon.

Part oone sets the scene for energyrequired to heat water and theconventional methods of waterheating. Part ttwo presents theeffect of using solar water-heatingin Lebanon and the availability ofsolar water-heating systems inneighboring countries. Part tthreelists the different technologies insolar systems in general anddiscusses vacuum tube systems inparticular.

PART ONE: Energy requirements for heating water andconventional methodsConsider a typical house of five people. The average daily consumptionof a person is 50 liters of hot water at 60 degrees Celsius. With coldwater coming from the supply mains at a temperature of 20°C, theenergy required to heat up this quantity of 250 liters (50 x 5) of water isgiven by: Q = m.c.ΔT and this gives a result of 41830 kilo joules of heat(it takes 4.184 kilo-joules to raise the temperature of one kilogram ofwater one degree Celsius at room temperature. m=mass of water inkilograms, c=kilo-joules per kilogram degree Celsius, ΔT=temperaturedifference in degrees Celsius.)

Conventional methods for heating water require electric resistanceelements, diesel burners, natural gas, heat pumps, and wood.

Considering the case of an electric water heater, the time required to heatup 250 liters of water from 20°C to 40°C by a 1500 W electrical resistanceelement is nearly 8 hours.

PART TWO: Solar water-heating in LebanonAssuming that 200,000 houses use 1500 watts electric resistance to heatwater in Lebanon, these houses will be consuming 300 MW for 8 hours.This is equivalent to Zouk power plant running more than five or six hourson full load. Should the houses all shift to solar water heating, the effecton the economy as well as on the environment will be enormouslybeneficial, with great savings on fuel and electricity bills for the users.

Lebanon is located in an area in which solar energy is highly availableand the use of solar water heating systems is commonplace. For instance,Turkey supplies 60% of its domestic hot water using solar energy.Southern Turkey supplies more than 80% of domestic hot water usingsolar energy. Other countries in the region can and do supply from 65%to 80% of their water heating requirements by the use of solar energy.

Solar energy available on a collector’s surface is measured byKWH/m2/day and is denoted by insolation level. This value variesbetween one day and another and mostly between one season andanother. The following chart illustrates the insolation level in Lebanon.

Renewable EnergyWissam DaouLaboratory AssistantBE Mechanical Engineering, NDU 99

Introduction“We do not own the planet; we are just borrowing it from our children.”

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These values are considered to be high values and when utilized canhave a positive impact on both the economy and the environment.

PART THREE: Different technologiesUtilizing solar radiation can be accomplished using two basic methods.Method OOne is by transforming solar radiation energy into electricalenergy by using photovoltaic cells. However, photovoltaic solar panels arestill very expensive and the savings do not justify the capital cost ofinstalling a complete system. In addition, storage systems (batteries) areconsidered to be environmentally unfriendly. Method TTwo is bytransforming solar energy into thermal energy. Thermal solar panels areconsidered to be an ideal solution since pay-back periods can be reducedto three years. Domestic hot water heating contributes significantly to thetotal energy consumption in a typical housing unit excluding spaceheating and cooling costs. The table below illustrates the energyconsumption in a typical house.

As can be seen from the tableabove, 45% of the electricalconsumption is due to waterheating.

How much can a solar systemsave?

From the solar energy dataavailable for Lebanon, efficientsolar systems can produce 70% ofthe hot water required per year. Inaddition, with a little reduction inconsumption, this value can be ashigh as 80%. This value isconfirmed by most of the familiesusing solar water-heating systems.

Figure 1: Solar Systems on Roofs of Buildings at Mersin/TurkeyFigure 2: Insolation Level in Beirut Area - Reference: www.tecsol.frFigure 3: Flat Plate Collector - Reference: www.eere.energy.govFigure 4: Vacuum tubeFigure 5: Vacuum Tube System / Roumieh-Lebanon Figure 6: Vacuum Tube – Principle of operation

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Domestic Electrical Consumption per MonthAppliance Number in thousands Unitary Consump. In Kwh Total Consump. In Tj % consumptionLighting 680 371.5 909.4 14.5Refrigerator 680 342.1 837.7 13.4Freezer 680 77.8 190.4 3Iron 680 205.2 502.2 8Extractor 680 34.2 83.9 1.3aElectric oven 680 54.0 132.1 2.1Electric boiler 680 29.7 72.7 1.2Laundry washer 680 97.2 238.0 3.8Hair dryer 680 8.1 19.8 0.3Radio 680 18.6 45.4 0.7TV B/W 680 17.6 42.8 0.7TV color 680 103.7 253.8 4.1Table fan 680 18.6 45.4 0.7Roof fan 680 10.5 25.9 0.4Electric water heater 680 1166.4 2855.5 45.7TOTAL 680 2555.2 6255 100.0

*Reference: Estimation de la demande d’énergie électrique pour le système Libanais CDR, EDL, EDF (Juin 1992)

Different Types of Solar Systems

Different types of solar waterheating systems have beendesigned. However the mostpopular design is the flat platecollector. Recent systems areadopting the vacuum tubetechnology for residentialapplications.

A flat-plate collector is a metalbox with a glass or plastic cover(called glazing) on top and a dark-colored absorber plate on thebottom. The sides and bottom ofthe collector are usually insulatedto minimize heat loss.

Sunlight passes through theglazing and strikes the absorberplate, which heats up, changingsolar energy into thermal energy.The heat is transferred to liquidpassing through pipes attached tothe absorber plate. Absorberplates are commonly painted with“selective coatings”, which absorband retain heat better thanordinary black paint.

A vacuum tube collector consists ofa number of vacuum tubesconnected to a storage tank or

sometimes to a collector. Eachvacuum tube consists of two glasstubes, one inside the other. Itswalls are evacuated to minimizeheat loss to the surroundingenvironment.

The tube is made of borosilicateglass having very low reflectivity.The inside tube is covered with aspecial coating which featuresexcellent heat absorption andminimum heat reflection rates.Figure 4 presents a vacuum tubesolar system at the roof of a typicalhouse in Lebanon. Figure 5illustrates the working principle ofa vacuum tube system.

In Lebanon, due to the highinsolation (term used for incidentenergy from the sun) levels, anytype of system, if well installed, canprovide very good results. Inaddition, due to the continuousincrease in fuel prices and theincreasing awareness forenvironmental issues, solar systemsare becoming “a must and not aluxury” as it was viewed a decadeago.

AppreciationThe following letter was received byDr. Shahwan Khoury, Dean ofEngineering, It was sent by Joe Boulos,Chairman and General Manager ofThe RIGHT ANGLE, SAL.

Dear Dr. Khoury,

This is to inform you that Eng. WissamDaou managed in a single day torepair the hot water system we have athome. For your perspective, the systemis a sophisticated one (GrummanSunstream-USA). It was installed 22years ago by my late father but neverworked, as the people sho installed itcouldn’t commission it properly. Myfather had given up on it at the time.Now since I came back to living in thesame building, I decided to divert thesystem for my own family use. The firsttechnical team I brought couldn’tfigure out why the equipment,seemingly still in mint condition,wouldn’t deliver.

Finally I met Eng. Wissam Daou, whoimmediately committed himself toservice us and confidently promisedme we would have hot water availablefrom the system the next day. Ofcourse, I was skeptical at first. Then Iwatched Wissam, who reasonedmethodically, eliminating variousdiagnoses of the problem until hefound the right answer (related to thelack of pressure in the collectors).

Frankly, I was pleased with Wissam’sspirit of service, technical skills andspeed of work. I wish him all the best.

Best regards, Joe Boulos.

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Turbochargers, commonly knownas Turbos, are devices which areused to boost the power output ofengines. Throughout the years,turbos have undergone majorchanges especially in theautomotive industry and inmachines used for energyproduction. The demand for agreater amount of energy outputor horsepower has led to suchchanges.

However, unleashing the beast inthe turbocharger could causedetrimental effects on the engine;thus protective accessories areusually added in order to controlthe damage caused byoverboosting.

This article discusses some of thoseaccessories particularly used in carengines.

Turbo Basics:As shown in Fig.1, a turbo iscomposed of two parts: a turbineand a compressor. The exhaustgases spin the turbine wheel whichin turn spins the compressor wheelthat compresses the incoming air,which allows more fuel to be

burned in the cylinder, resulting ina greater power output. Thismeans that with higher speedmore power is produced.

Blow Off Valve (B.O.V)A Blow Off Valve (Fig.2),commonly known as a dumpvalve, is a pressure relief valve. Itgives the sound that characterizesa turbocharged car, a sound whichmany find charming. The purposeof this valve is to relieve thepressure of the compressed aircoming out of the turbochargerand going into the intake manifoldduring the time it is closed, i.e.,when the throttle valve is closed,meaning that the car is notaccelerating or no pressure isapplied on the gas pedal. Itprevents the turbine from stalling(freezing or stopping), thereforereducing turbo lag (delay).

The inside of a B.O.V is essentiallya spring. By varying the springstiffness (hardness), differentB.O.V’s can be made causing anincrease or decrease of the turbolag. Of course, for betterperformance, the turbo lag shouldbe minimized.

WastegateThe sole purpose of a wastegate isto bypass some exhaust flowaround the turbine section of theturbocharger to control maximumboost. It is usually controlled by apressure actuator that is operatedby the manifold pressure. Thewastegate is normally held closedby a spring inside the actuatorcanister. When preset pressurelimits are exceeded, the actuatorprogressively opens the wastegateallowing the exhaust flow tobypass the turbine, thus regulatingthe manifold boost pressure.

This article explained someeffective and inexpensive ways toboost and protect a turbochargedengine. More expensive meanscould be used, for example,having a bigger turbo or using adifferent material (e.g., ceramics),or a bigger intercooler. Moreover,a turbo timer, a Fuel Cut Defender(FCD), an Anti Lag System (ALSalso called a bang-bang), ableeder valve or even the exhaustsystem could be changed andreplaced with larger exhaustmanifolds and hidders.

Turbo AccessoriesWissam RashedSenior Mechanical Engineering Student

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Fig.1: Turbo BasicsFig.2: Blow Off Valve Fig.3: Wastegate

Have you ever been stuck in a uni-directional traffic jam on a two-directional road when on your wayto work?

If so, you would have certainlynoticed one or more motoristsleaving the line behind you,driving forward at full speed in thewrong direction, by-passing anumber of vehicles, and thentrying to pull ahead of anunsuspecting motorist!

Well … Welcome to the world of“Queue Jumping”!

Queue Jumping is quite commonespecially in under-developedcountries, and not only on theroad, but also in many otherplaces: in the market (how manytimes have you been by-passed bya shopper who took your turn inthe bakery or the bank, without theslightest qualm about his/her act!),in government offices (have youever observed the behavior of the“Bayk’s” cousin in the local TownHall?), and even in higher

education institutions (how manyinstructors do you know have notbeen contacted by a certain“Khaweja” asking for “a push” infavor of a relative or anacquaintance?)

In the Queue Jumpers’ mind, theidea of making a gain iin ttheshortest ppossible ttime is of extremeurgency, especially as they arealmost always “trying to reach theiraims for a good cause, a‘Khedmeh’, such as driving afriend to the airport, etc..”Ironically enough, Queue Jumpersmay well be honest and sincere instating that aim! What they fail torealize, however, is that by actingthe way they do, they –

1. Disrespect and place aa llargersection oof tthe ccommunity aat aadisadvantage (road QueueJumpers, for example, take theturns of other law-abidingmotorists waiting in line.)

2. Often exacerbate the problemat hand and place tthemselves

The Engineering Code ofEthics:Towards Engineering a More StableCommunity!Dr. George Hassoun May 2005

at aa ddisadvantage, iin tthe llongrun, by adding another strain tothe already over-strained system(e.g. further suffocating thetraffic bottleneck, in the case ofthe road Queue Jumpers,resulting in further long-termdelays.)

3. Often resort to extrememeasures and take ggreat rriskstrying to reach their goals (adangerous head-on collisionwith an incoming car is arealistic risk for road QueueJumpers!)

For those unfamiliar with ControlSystems Theory, reaching a short-term gain at the expense of along-term, wide-range penalty anda short-term risk is a well-knowncontrol system behavior (see Figure1): the intended aim is initiallyreached within a short Rise Time,Tr (i.e. short-term gain - asexemplified by a short distancegained by the road QueueJumper), but at the expense of along Settling Time, Ts (i.e. long-

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term penalty – materialized by along waiting period), and a highOvershoot (i.e. short-term risk –taken upon driving in the wrongdirection!).

Although not unstable, this modeof behavior is very close to theboundary of system instability(which is evidently anunsatisfactory system behavior.) Itis mostly due to the presence, inthe system, of special entities(called “poles”) located very closeto the Stability Boundary, i.e.Imaginary Axis - in the so-calledComplex Plane! (see Figure 2)

The striking similarity of thebehavioral modes of near-unstablepoles in the Complex Plane andQueue Jumpers (in our increasinglycomplex life) makes you wonderwhether Queue Jumpers actuallyoperate near the limits of stabilityand/or the limits of imagination?!

In this regard, it helps one torealize that, in Control SystemsTheory, it is enough for the system

to contain only one unstable polein order for the entire system tobehave unsatisfactorily!

Accordingly, a valid question couldthen be asked: Is it possible toidentify near-unstable poles in ourcommunity and, if so, what couldpossibly be done about them?!

In Control Systems Theory, thereare a number of schemes used tocontrol the behavioral modes ofnear-unstable poles, includingtechniques such as “Lead-LagCompensation”, “Pole Placement”,etc... As the name might suggest,the overall strategy of the latterscheme often consists of replacingthe near-unstable poles by morestable poles located far from theStability Boundary in the ComplexPlane.

By comparison, it is clear that ourcommunity needs a significantamount of “pole placement”, andwho better than educators are wellpositioned to implement the poleplacement control strategy in thecommunity?

At this University, the Faculty ofEngineering is doing its best toprovide its students, not only withthe technical and engineeringknowledge they certainly need intoday’s competitive world, but alsowith a professional mode of

behavior that stresses theimportance of long-tterm vvision aswell as short-term objectives, inaddition to emphasising theinterest oof tthe ccommunity thatshould go hand-in-hand with thepersonal interest. Moreover,students are consistently advisedagainst running unrealistic rrisksthat could endanger individuals aswell as the community.

Among the tools used to stressthese messages are professionalcodes of ethics. In this context, TheCode of Ethics of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers(see enclosure), addresses severalpertinent points:

The care ffor tthe ccommunity isclearly suggested in the preambleof the Code, as well as in the first,seventh, eighth and ninth tenets,where it is explicitly stated thatengineers are serving thecommunity, and as such, they arerequired to act responsibly towardsothers, to avoid injuring them andto treat them with fairness.

The long-tterm vvision of theprofessional engineer is alsohighlighted in the first, second, fifthand sixth tenets of the Code whereengineers are asked to accept(long-term) responsibility for theirdecisions, to avoid conflicts ofinterest and to have a futuristic

Figure 1. Typical Response of a systemcontaining one or more "near-unstable"poles.Figure 2. Complex plane containing threetypes of poles: stable, unstable, and near-unstable.

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attitude by improving theirunderstanding of technology andits potential consequences.

Additionally, risk mmanagement isalso underscored in the first,second, third, sixth and seventhtenets of the Code, whereengineers are warned againstendangering the public, and askedto be realistic and correct theirerrors if they do occur.

Needless to say, codes of ethicsare certainly ineffective in theabsence of honesty (see third tenetof the Code), which is closelyconnected to truth – scientists’ (andengineers’) most wanted target.

It follows that if we’re honest abouttransforming Lebanon into a truedeveloping country, we need topole-place its “near-unstablepoles”, even before they join theworkforce. In this fashion, wecould perhaps hope to build asatisfactory and safe future for ourcommunity, away from the near-instability that has haunted us for along time!

Meanwhile, until most professionsimplement a code of ethics of theirown, let’s see if our re-emergingLebanon can first implement andthen enforce a decent traffic codeon our roads, sparing us themorning headaches induced bychronic Queue Jumpers crossing usover on our way to work!

The Code of Ethicsof the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers*We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance ofour technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world,and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, itsmembers and the communities we serve, do hereby commitourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:

1. to accept responsibility in making engineering decisionsconsistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and todisclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or theenvironment;

2. to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible,and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;

3. to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based onavailable data;

4. to reject bribery in all its forms;

5. to improve the understanding of technology, its appropriateapplication, and potential consequences;

6. to maintain and improve our technical competence and toundertake technological tasks for others only if qualified bytraining or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinentlimitations;

7. to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, toacknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly thecontributions of others;

8. to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race,religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin;

9. to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, oremployment by false or malicious action;

10. to assist colleagues and co-workers in their professionaldevelopment and to support them in following this code ofethics.

* http:www.ieee.org

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On the 26th of December 2004,an earthquake of Magnitude 9 onthe Richter scale shook the world.The Sumatra Great Earthquakewas followed by a giant tsunamiwiping out cities and villages fromthe surface. Major structurescollapsed, desolation spread, andhomeless survivors waiting for therelief aids from the internationalcommunity have been pictured onevery TV channel.

The civil engineering profession isfacing major challenges. Are weprepared to face similar events?Do we have the ambition to resistforces of nature or live with them?Can Civil Engineers design strongrigid structures to resist MotherNature or flexible structures toaccommodate the movement? Canwe conceive wave-breakerstructures or an early warningsystem to protect our coastal citiesfrom giant waves?

The after-shocks are always timefor meditation. The Sumatra event,similar to the many earthquakeson the eastern section of theMediterranean, raises the samequestion: Are we prepared? Didthese populations living on adynamic earth adapt their way ofliving to the local environment?The urban expansion of ourLebanese coastal citiesencroaching the near hills is theanswer. The local population hasignored all kind of geologicalhazards, such as slope stability,tsunamis, and liquefaction of sand.In the absence of a strict seismic

CIVIL ENGINEERING AND THECHALLENGES OF THE CENTURYJacques Harb,DCE Chairperson

building code that needs urgently to be implemented, the contribution ofcivil engineers in collaboration with insurance companies and controloffices is the only remedy to reduce the impact of future disaster, loss oflife and property damage. The table below illustrates some historicalevents that have occurred on the eastern section of the Mediterranean.

The recurrence of Tsunami waves along the coastal line is striking.

Table 11 Selected seismic events that affected the Eastern Section of theMediterranean

Source: PLASSARD, J. et B. KOGOJ, 1981 - “Séismicité du Liban”, Catalogue des séismes ressentis,Collection des Annales – Mémoires de l’Observatoire de Ksara, Tome IV (Séismologie).

DATE LOCATION MAGNITUDE (M)/INTENSITY (I)

COMMENTS

?1350 BC Coastal Lebanon I 10 Destruction at Byblos and Ugarit? Possibly relatedto the eruption of Santorini although this may bemuch earlier (c 1628 BC). Tsunami

525 BC Coastal Lebanon I 10 Tyre destroyed (Tidal Waves)

140 BC Coastal Lebanon I 8 Tsunami at Tyre

306 AD Coastal Lebanon I 9 Tsunami

349 AD Coastal Lebanon I 10 Most of Beirut destroyed

Aug.502 Coastal Lebanon I 9 Destruction from Tyre to Aleppo

6 July 551 Coastal Lebanon I 11 Total destruction of Beirut, massive damage fromTripoli to Tyre. Tsunami. Coastline altered. Part ofRas Chekka falls into sea. Probably the largestrecorded earthquake in Lebanon’s history.

May 1063 Coastal Lebanon I 9 Arqa in North Lebanon is destroyed andabandoned.

Aug. 1157 Bekaa Valley I 8 Damascus destroyed.

Summer 1170 Bekaa Valley I 9 Destruction of Tripoli.

June-July 1201 Levant Region I 10 Widespread earthquakes from Cyprus to Syria.Tsunami.

20 May 1202 Bekaa Valley I 10 Destruction at Tripoli. Homs and Baalbek.

Dec-Jan 1403-4 Levant Region I 5 Repeated tsunamis.

21 July 1752 Levant Region I 7 Tsunami.

30 Oct. 1759 South Bekaa M 6.6* Destruction at Safad and Qneitra. 2000 dead

25 Nov. 1759 Bekaa Valley M 7.5* Beirut and Damascus destroyed- More than40,000 dead. 3 columns fall at Baalbek

12 Oct. 1856 Levant Region I 6 Tsunami.

29 Sept. 1918 Coastal Lebanon M 6.5 Occurred offshore; felt from Beirut to Zahle

16-May-56 Lebanon M 6 Epicenter 50 km south of Beirut. 136 dead, 6000houses destroyed, 17,000 need repairing. Panic inBeirut. Political crisis,

The September 11 terrorist attackon the WTC in New York isanother landmark for the CivilEngineering profession. Existingsensitive structures, vulnerable tovibration, blasting and terroristattacks are now a center ofattention for retrofitting.

Our dynamic environment isdictating a more challengingconception of our structures. Ourunderstanding of dynamicsremains limited. The dynamicbehavior of civil engineeringmaterial used in structures isattracting researchers’ focus.

The Department of CivilEngineering now faces thesechallenges and struggles towardpreparing future professionalscapable of conceiving flexiblestructures that can adapt to theirlocal dynamic environment. Welive on a moving ground and thedynamic earth requires a betterrespect, knowledge andenvironmental understanding.

The Department of CivilEngineering is now operationalwith a modernized curriculumimplemented during the academicyear 2003-2004, which iscompatible with the ABET(Accreditation Board forEngineering and Technology). TheDepartment is ready for theaccreditation process to initiate.Environmental Engineering coursesprepare students to embraceenvironmentally friendly civilengineering projects. Students noware being introduced to three newlaboratory courses: EnvironmentalEngineering, Hydraulics, andPavement Design.

The Department of CivilEngineering has been interactingwith the local construction industrythrough the development andimplementation of LaboratoryCommercial Testing for qualitycontrol of concrete, steel, soil andasphalt material since the Fall2002.

The professional Society of CivilEngineers (SCE), which gathers inthe student body, is active tocomplement classroom teachingby professional activities such asfield trips, guest speakers,laboratory projects and communityservices. The Department is alsoactively participating in theactivities of the Water, Energy andEnvironment Research Centerthroughout the sequence ofconferences and projects.

It is finally a dynamic universe andwe recall some of the Bible words:

But the Lord was not in the wind:And after the wind an earthquake; But the Lord was not in theearthquake: And after theearthquake a fire: But the Lord was not in the fire:And after the fire a still smallvoice.

I Kings ch. 19, v. 11

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appropriate waste managementmeasures need to be selected andimplemented.

Despite the recent advances inwaste management/treatmenttechnologies, landfilling remainsthe most frequently adoptedsolution. A landfill is an areadesignated to receive solid waste.The refuse is buried between layersof soil and covered with aprotective cap, usually made ofimpermeable clay and a plasticsheet – called geomembrane (ref.Figure 1). An impermeable liner isalso built at the bottom of thelandfill to prohibit leachateinfiltration into the groundwater(ref. Figure 2).

The popularity of landfills is due inpart to the fact that other disposalalternatives do not necessarilyhandle the entire waste streamand as such some landfilling isalways necessary, or because theygenerate by-products which areclassified as wastes which requirefurther treatment or disposal or,

Performance evaluation of Landfill Covers in LebanonSophia GhanimehCivil Engineer, M.E, Notre Dame University, Faculty ofEngineering, Department of Civil Engineering

efficiency of the clay cap dropssignificantly. The reliance ongeomembranes to provide asolution to the above problem hasmet some failure, due to thevulnerability of geomembranes topuncture, tearing and degradation.

This paper evaluates the long-termperformance of existing“conventional” landfill cap systemsand introduces the concept of“alternative” earthen covers.

Keywords: Landfill, leachate, claybarrier, hydraulic conductivity.

1. BackgroundThousands of tons of soliddomestic waste are beingproduced daily and the questionsrelated to best-practice solutionsare pressing issues, particularly inthe Lebanon context. Since the endof operations at the sea dump sitesin Bourj-Hammoud and at theNormandy, and with the loomingend-of-capacity situation at theNaameh landfill, proper and

ABSTRACTThousands of tons of solid wasteproduced daily in Lebanon arebeing sent to dump sites andlandfills. However, the majorlandfill of Nehmeh is reachingend-of-capacity and may have tobe closed soon. One of the mainconcerns related to post-closureperformance of engineeredlandfills is leachate generation.Leachate production is mainly dueto water infiltration through thecover, in addition to the waterexpelled from the waste itself.Given the fact that leachate is amajor contaminant source, theobjective is to minimize theleachate generated, and as such,impervious barriers, typicallycompacted clay liners, are built tominimize precipitation infiltrationinto the waste. However, in dryclimates, such as Lebanon, claycovers tend to desiccate and crackdespite all the requiredmaintenance and monitoring. As aresult of the cracking anddegradation of the cover, seepagerates increase drastically and the

most importantly, since landfillingremains the most economicaloption.

The modern-day landfills areengineered facilities with stringentdesign and constructionrequirements and specifications.Whereas the short-termperformance of landfills andlandfill liners during the operationphase of the facility has beenexamined, the post-closure long-term performance of landfills is stillsubject to investigation andimprovements.

In a properly designed andengineered landfill the solid wasteis confined in cells. The most likelymechanism for the transport ofcontaminants outside the landfillboundaries and liner is throughwater infiltration. It is thereforeimperative that the influx of waterinto the waste itself be minimized.As such, the landfill final cover hasfor primary task to keep wateraway from the waste. Evidently, aproper and effective cover iscritical to the long-termperformance of landfills andshould be the subject of focus andinterest.

2. Current SituationCurrent cover design criteria thatcarry the approval of regulatory

agencies (i.e. US EnvironmentalProtection Agency, EPA) emphasizewaterproof barrier layers thatseparate the waste from thesurrounding environment [Hauser,Weand and Gill 2001]. Theperformance and acceptabilitycriterion of these barriers is basedon their saturated hydraulicconductivity. In order to achieve alow saturated permeability, aclayey soil must be compacted at awater content “wet of optimum”(ref. Figure 3). However, in dryarid or semi-arid climates, such asLebanon, the fine soil willeventually dry, shrink, and crack,allowing precipitation to percolatethrough to the waste andpotentially contaminate theunderlying soil and ground water.As a result, a cover designapplicable in “wet” climates(Britain for instance), is actuallyunsuitable for arid to semi-aridLebanon. A different cover designphilosophy and approach isneeded to suite the particularconditions typical of arid andsemi-arid regions, so a one-size-fits-all approach cannot bejustified.

3. Hydraulic Conductivity ofClay Barriers

Clays or, more generally, clayeysoils are used in landfill liners andcovers, given their typically low

hydraulic conductivity. However,the performance of clayey soils asbarriers is known to be affected bya number of parameters, includingthe water content at which they arecompacted. Increasing the watercontent during compactionincreases the compacted dry unitweight, γd, until reaching themaximum achievable γd atoptimum moisture content, OMC(ref. Figure 3).

Beyond the OMC, γd decreasesagain. According to Lambe[Lambe 1954], under a pre-determined compactive effort, thesoil at dry of OMC has aflocculated structure with relativelylarge voids. At water contents wetof OMC, the soil possesses adispersed structure with voidssmaller than for a flocculated soilstructure. Accordingly, thehydraulic conductivity of claysdecreases with increasing watercontent at the time of compaction.

Indeed, the permeability of a silty-clay/clay compacted at wet of

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optimum may be up to 10 to 1000times less than the permeability ofthe same soil compacted at dry ofoptimum [Istock 1989]. Thereforeif the soil is relatively dry duringcompaction, adequate hydraulicconductivity (≤10-7cm/sec EPAstandard) is very difficult to achieveif not totally unachievable. At thesame time, if the soil is too wet, itbecomes soft and weak andtherefore problematic for fieldcompaction.

Consequently, an adequate watercontent range and a minimum dryunit weight are typically specified.An adequate compaction effort isalso selected to reduce voids,break soil lumps, and remoldclods into a homogenous mass.

4. USEPA “Conventional”Covers

Based on the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency, EPA, standardsand specifications, ResourceConservation and Recovery Act,RCRA, subtitles C and D specify

performance standards forengineered covers for hazardousand solid waste landfillsrespectively.

Subtitle D cover for non-hazardouswaste landfills should consist of450mm minimum clay barrierhaving a hydraulic conductivity <1 x 10-5 cm/s and less or equal tothe hydraulic conductivity of thebase liner. The latter requirementis to avoid build-up of leachatewithin the landfill. The clay barriershould be protected by a 150mmminimum erosion or vegetated soillayer. Gas collection and drainagelayers may also be necessary[Daniel 1995].

Subtitle C EPA’s cover should meetthe requirements for closure ofhazardous and mixed-wastelandfills, as promulgated in 40CFRParts 264 and 265, subpart N.Under these regulations, thelandfill cover should meet thefollowing performance standards:[USDOE 2000]

> Minimize liquid migration.> Promote drainage while

controlling erosion.> Minimize maintenance.> Have a permeability equal to or

less than that of the naturalsubsoil.

> Address freeze/thaw effects.> Accommodate settling and

subsidence to ensuremaintenance of cover’s integrity.

To meet the above criteria, EPAguidelines recommend that thecovers consist of 600mm minimumlow-permeability soil layer(hydraulic conductivity ≤ 1x10-

7cm/sec) overlaid with 300mmdrainage layer (hydraulicconductivity ≥ 1x10-2cm/sec). Inaddition, at least 600mm of top-soil layer should be provided[Daniel 1995].

5. Field versus LaboratoryPerformance of ClayBarriers

Laboratory tests on wet compactedclays may reveal very lowpermeability indicating a nearlyimpervious soil. However, when acompacted clay soil is exposed toatmospheric conditions, waterevaporates, creating negative porewater pressures. Negative porewater pressures tend to increasethe effective stresses and induceshrinkage in all directions. As aresult, the soil layer cracks and

Figure 1. The daily landfilling process(http://www.urbanservices.act.gov.au/index.html)

Figure 2. Landfill diagram(http://www.metrokc.gov/dnr/kidsweb/landfill.htm)

Figure 3. Variations in (a) dry density and(b) hydraulic conductivity withwater content at compaction

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seepage rate increasesdramatically. The higher the watercontent during compaction, thestronger the effect of pore waterpressure on effective stress duringdrying. Consequently shrinkagestrains, and therefore desiccationcracks, increase with compactionwater content [Istock 1989].

According to Daniel [Daniel 1995],neither a 150mm-thick nor a450mm-thick topsoil layer wasable to protect clay barriers fromdesiccation and cracking in arelatively arid area of California.According to the results presentedby Daniel, the only possible way toavoid cracking of the soil barrierstested was by covering them withboth a geomembrane and a layerof cover soil.

Distortion due to differentialsettlement is another problem thatarises in field performance ofcompacted clay liners/covers. Thetensile strength of clay liners is toolow to withstand tensile strainsgreater than 0.1 to 1.0 % without

cracking [Daniel 1995]. Based onempirical observations, 0.1 to 1.0% strain correspond to 0.05 to 0.1maximum differential settlement-to-length ratio Δ/L. Daniel pointedout that many, if not all, covers formunicipal solid waste landfillsundergo comparable distortions.For instance, the hydraulicconductivity of kaolinite may dropfrom 10-7 cm/s in undistortedconditions to 10-3 cm/s at 0.5%strain [Choo and Yanful, 2000].

Field measurements and studies onexisting landfills revealed thatmany covers are not achieving theintended performance in arid andsemi-arid areas [Benson, Danieland Boutwell (1999), Dwyer(2001), Allen (2001), Khire,Benson and Bosscher (1997)]. Insome places, percolation, i.e.“cover penetration”, reached up to60% of precipitation. [Khire,Benson and Bosscher (2000)].Consequently new alternativesneed to be investigated.

6. Proposed AlternativesAlternative Landfill Cover Designs,ALCD, rely on physical andhydraulic properties of the soil andcharacteristics of the top vegetationto lower the water infiltrationthrough the cover. These designstend to optimize soil water storage,evaporation, and transpiration inan attempt to minimizepercolation. Alternative soilbarriers can be constructed with amoisture content that makesplacement and compaction easier,less expansive, and less susceptibleto eventual cracking.

Studies are now in progress atmany sites in the US such as ElPaso, Texas, Albuquerque, NewMexico, and Richland, Washington[Othman, Bonaparte, Gross, andSchertman 1995]. A number ofalternative covers showed promiseand will constitute the startingpoint for researches.

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7. Conclusions andSuggestions

The RCRA “Subtitle D” cover issusceptible to desiccation crackingand animal burrows, which maycreate preferential flow paths andjeopardize the long-termperformance of the cover. If ageomembrane is to be added,construction errors and punctures,in addition to large differentialmovements as the waste masssettles, may create tears and leaks[Foose, Benson and Edil (2001)],and thereby defeat the purpose ofusing a geomembrane.

The need to explore alternativeearthen landfill covers for semi-arid and arid regions is clear andsolutions which depend oninnovative and adaptable systemsshould be considered.

8. Bibliography– Albrecht, B. and Benson, C. (2001)

“Effect of Desiccation on CompactedNatural Clays.” Journal of Geotechnicaland Geoenvironmental Engineering-ASCE(January 2001): 67-75.

– Allen J. (2001) “The Alternative CoverAssessment project: In Search of a BetterWay to Take Out the Trash”,http://www.dri.edu/General/Newsletter/2001/summer/acap .html; Internet

– Benson C.H. and Khire M.V. (1995)“Earthen Covers for Semi-Arid and AridClimates” Landfill Closures-EnvironmentalProtection and Land RecoveryGeotechnical Special Publication No. 53,ASCE-GSP, pp.210–217.

– Benson C.H., Daniel D.E and BoutwellG.P. (1999) “Field Performance ofCompacted Clay Liners”, Journal ofGeotechnical and GeoenvironmentalEngineering-ASCE, V126 No.5,pp.390–403.

– Choo L-P and Yanful E.K. (2000)“Water Flow Through Cover Soils UsingModeling and Experimental Methods”,Journal of Geotechnical andGeoenvironmental Engineering-ASCE,V.127, No.4, pp.324–334.

– Daniel D.E (1995) “Soil Barrier LayersVersus Geosynthetic Barriers in LandfillCover Systems”, Landfill Closures-Environmental Protection and LandRecovery Geotechnical Special PublicationNo. 53, ASCE-GSP, pp.1–18.

– Dwyer S.F. (1999) “Conventional versusAlternative Landfill Cover Designs: Whichis best for arid climate?”, Landfill CoversWorkshop, US Department of Energy,Tennessee.http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/stcg/covers.htm; Internet

– Dwyer S.F. (2001) “Project Summary:

Alternative Landfill Cover Demonstration”,SCFA-Midyear Review.http://www.envnet.org/scfa/imagelib/tms10.htm; Internet

– Dwyer S.F. (2003) “Water BalanceMeasurement and Computer Simulationsof Landfill Covers”, PhD dissertation, theUniversity of New Mexico, Albuquerque,New Mexico, May 2003.

– Foose G., Benson C. and Edil T. (2001)“Predicting Leakage through CompositeLandfill Liners”, Journal of Geotechnicaland Geoenvironmental Engineering-ASCE, June 2001, pp. 510-520.

– Hauser V.L., Weand B.L. and Gill M.D.(2001) “Natural Covers for Landfills andBuried Waste”, Journal of EnvironmentalEngineering-ASCE, V.127, No.9, pp.768-775.

– Istok J. (1989) “Groundwater Modelingby the Finite Element Method”, TheAmerican Geophysical Union, USA.

– Khire M.V, Benson C.H., and BosscherP.J. (1997) “Water Balance Modeling ofEarthen Final Covers”, Journal ofGeotechnical and GeoenvironmentalEngineering-ASCE, V.124, No.8,pp.744–754.

– Khire M.V., Benson C.H. and BosscherP.J. (2000) “Capillary Barriers: DesignVariables and Water Balance”, Journal ofGeotechnical and GeoenvironmentalEngineering-ASCE, V.127, No.8,pp.695–707.

– Lambe, T.W. (1954) “The permeability ofFine Grained Soils”, American Society ofTesting and Materials, Conference,Chicago June 1954.

– Othman M.A., Bonaparte R., GrossB.A. and Schmertmann G.R. (1995)“Design of MSW Landfill Final CoverSystems”, Landfill Closures-EnvironmentalProtection and Land RecoveryGeotechnical Special Publication No. 53,ASCE-GSP, pp.218–257.

– USDOE (2000) “Innovative Technology:Alternative Landfill Cover”,U.S.Department of Energy, Office ofEnvironmental Management, Office ofScience and Technology, DOE/EM-0558.

FAAD

It was in 1995 that the decisionwas made to integrate the threedisciplines; Architecture, Art andDesign, into one faculty. This wasin line with a philosophy whichhad as its premises the following:

1. Architecture, Art and Designhave common denominators:shape, balance, color, texture,rhythm, human factors,technology, methodology, etc.

2. Architecture, Art and Designhave common driving forces:inspiration, research,communication, motivation,emotion, function, creativity, etc.

Six years after, FAAD gained thepower to stand as an independentconstituent of NDU. Today, theFaculty awards a variety ofdegrees along with a range ofcourses at both the undergraduateand graduate levels. There is nodoubt that the Faculty has proved

to be increasingly attractive tostudents. A most recent surveydetects that FAAD has built up areputation; 90% of its graduateshave gained employment, locallyand abroad, in areas related tothe subjects they studied. Thesurvey also highlights that thisreputation may be attributed tothose who led the Faculty throughits first phase of development, andthose dedicated faculty and staffmembers whose continued effortsand high commitment haveenabled FAAD to achieve itseducational goals.

Today, the challenge is far moreparamount. The idea of ‘globaleducation’ for a ‘global world’ ishere and now. For us, the modernworld is one where the East meetsthe West; and where Architecture,Art and Design have becomecommon world languages. So,

what is required for thedevelopment of a Faculty ofArchitecture, Art and Design in thetwenty-first century? NDU isalready well on the way todelivering an internationaleducation. We, at the FAAD, haveset the foundations for an ever-growing institute that provides foran international, professional,vocational career and education.Most of our faculty members havestudied in Britain, U.S.A and otherEuropean countries, and they arealways in contact with theseinstitutes and other well-established design centers of theworld.

Our curricula have regularly beenrevised and updated. Thiscontinuing development of ourprograms has been guided by ourdesire to provide quality-learningexperiences which are relevant to

‘Meeting the Challenge’Dr. Assaad Eid, Dean,Faculty of Architecture, Art & Design,NDU – Louaize

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current and future employmentdemands. To that end, we havealso been able to capitalize onand develop our facilities to helpstimulate industrial practices. Ouraim has been, and will always be,to become a leading institute inpartnership with industry.

On another front, we firmly believethat students of Architecture, Artand Design need to explore therelationship between theirdisciplines and technology. Theultimate goal will always be tohelp students meet the challengesposed by the untamed advance oftechnology, and accordingly bringabout a fusion of learning between‘creativity’ and the findings oftechnology.

There remains the most essentialand effective element ofdevelopment and growth –

research. The Faculty’s researchactivities are becoming more andmore important, especially whereboth design and industry areconcerned. Next year, the Facultywill host more visiting lecturers,guest speakers and practitioners,and will also hold a number ofconferences, seminars andworkshops so as students andfaculty members engage in debateover a variety of issues andconcerns pertaining to the areas ofarchitecture, art and design.

Finally, the past couple of yearshave witnessed a massiveexpansion of higher education inLebanon. Is this a challenge? Thechallenge for our Faculty is toremain one based on merit alone;not a question of quantity but ofquality. FAAD had a distinguishedpast, and today it offers an excitingchallenge to all who are connectedwith it. We have a battle on ourhands, and we are going to win it.Make no mistake about it.

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1. Dr. Assaad Eid2. Meeting the Challenge3. Students at work

London VisitDr. Assaad Eid

Sunday January 23, 2005:Upon arrival I met Mr. SStuartBrown, a professional designerand photographer, who wasemployed at different intervals byNDU a couple of years ago. Mr.Brown expressed his willingness toresume his association with NDUwhenever we deem necessary.

Monday January 24 andTuesday January 25, 2005:I held two long meetings with Prof.Gabrielle PParker, Pro-ViceChancellor and Dean of theSchool of Arts at MiddlesexUniversity.

The discussions during thosemeetings focused on the followingareas of concern:

1. Possibility of re-establishing jointcollaboration study programs.

2. Collaboration on the researchfront.

3. Teaching and learningexchanges.

As for item (1.), Dr. Parkerexpressed mixed feelings aboutthis issue, simply because NDUfailed to comply with the terms setin Memorandum of Cooperationi.e. “validated M.A program” thatwas signed in 1999.

She is, however, willing to considerreactivating this link once

Middlesex finishes reviewing its MAand PhD programs. She alsomade it clear that anotherinstitutional visit is required if sucha plan is to be put in practice.

As for items (2.) and (3.), Prof.Parker promised to consider andsupport any endeavor or requestsubmitted by NDU.

Wednesday January 26, 2005:A long meeting at De MontfortUniversity in Leicester was heldbetween Prof. HH. AAbdallah, Headof the School of Architecture, Artand Design, Prof. TTaki and myself.Ways of cooperation werediscussed at length. We agreed tostart working on two fronts:

1. Joint research programs2. Teaching and learning

exchanges.It was agreed that Prof. Taki ofDMU and Architecture Departmentat NDU start exchanging ideas onresearch areas of commoninterest. It was also decided to startfaculty exchange upon studyingthoroughly the course contents atboth Universities.

Thursday January 27, andFriday January 28, 2005:I spent those two days interviewingteaching applicants. The followingcandidates will be recommended

for part-time engagement startingFall 2005:

– Prof. MMartin PPitts,– Dr. KKate DDineen,– Ms. CChloe CCheese,– Prof. CCarlos SSapotchnik– & Mr. SStuart BBrown.Other teaching faculty from bothMiddlesex University and DeMontfort University will beconsidered when we deemnecessary.

On another front, I had theopportunity to visit “Pulse House”,a professional design firm runjointly by a British and a Lebanese.An agreement was set up to helpNDU students with their trainingprograms any time they happen tobe in London. The agreement alsoconsidered financial assistance inreturn for services rendered bythose students.

In conclusion, I firmly believe thatthe visit has set the properfoundation for establishingcooperative links between NDUand two British Universities. It hasalso provided me with theopportunity to recruit facultymembers to better serve ourstudents at both the undergraduateand the graduate levels.

During my visit to London, I had the opportunity to visit twoBritish Universities, and to interview several teachingcandidates. The overall outcome of this visit may beoutlined as follows:

Visit to London.

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Visit to QatarJanuary 20 – 25, 2005Dr. Assaad Eid

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I was invited to participate in theTasmeem Doha Conference,scheduled from February 20 to 24in Qatar.

Beside my participating in theconference, the occasion made itpossible for me to explore ideason how to collaborate with VirginiaCommonwealth University (VCU).Accordingly, a series of meetingswere held with Richard TToscan,Vice Provost for InternationalAffairs (VCU), Christina LLindholm,Dean of the School of the Arts,and John GGeldart, Design CenterCoordinator at VCU, Qatar.

The discussions with Prof. R.Toscan and Dean Lindholmcovered areas of commoninterests, i.e. program, faculty and

students exchanges, especially forfashion and graphics.

Although VCU is somewhatrestricted by its contract with Qatarauthorities, both, Toscan andLindholm, believe that there areareas where we might collaborateespecially in the areas of“exchange”.

Consequently, the first step forboth of us shall be to look at thedetailed curricula with coursedescriptions so as to signal outcommon areas and then figure outfuture activities.

As for students and facultyexchange, this, they believe, maywork out on a one to one basis.

In the area of research,Dr. Geldart agrees to activelyengage in joint research activitiesonce we finish mapping areas ofcommon interest.

Finally, in an attempt to put thingsin practice, Dean Lindholmexpressed the wish to visit NDU forfurther discussion and clarification.A tentative date was set for June2005.

1. Dr. Assaad Eid and Mr. Robert Haddadwith academics at the Qatar Ritz Hotel.

2. Mr. Robert Haddad and Dr. Assaad Eidwith Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sulaity,Committee Chair of Tasmeem Doha2005, Ministry of Civil Service Affairs andHousing.

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Architecture & Environment Workshop,Santorini, Greece 17- 24 May 2005The four elements: Earth – Wind – Fire – Water workshop was held atOia, Santorini and was organized in collaboration with the Environment &Energy Program of Architectural Association Graduate School (SimosYannas), Lebanon Notre Dame University Faculty of Architecture Art &Design (Habib Melki), and the School of Architecture of NationalTechnical University of Athens (Thanos N. Stasinopoulos).

The Workshop was attended by over 40 students and teaching staff fromthe three institutions. The participating group, from Notre DameUniversity, Louaize was as follows:

Students:Nadine Ayoub 20002101Chadi Bteich 960114Joelle Dahdah 20001661Roland Darrous 20021512Anthony Keyrouz 20011281Imad Kfoury 20012576Ahmad Sabra 983122Antoine Wakim 20013218

Instructors:André BECHARAJean-Pierre EL ASMARNicolas GABRIELHabib MELKI

The purpose of the short butintensive seminar was:

a. to introduce students into theinteraction of natural forces andhuman settlements that hascreated sustainable communitiesfor centuries and

b. to get involved in an appliedproject in order to understandactual problems and search forapplicable solutions.

Four Elements of Santorini Workshop:Earth – Wind – Fire – WaterOia 2005

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Project Summary:• Introduction to Location: Students and faculty members attended a

guided tour on the historical sites and important landmarks of theLocation. An academic brief on Santorini was distributed to allparticipants. The brief concentrated on basic information related to thegeography, history, culture, climate, and most importantly the majorfeatures of the architecture and urban fabric of Santorini.

• General Thematic of the Workshop: The guided tour and the briefwere meant to enable the students to deal with the general thematic ofthe workshop that was “The appropriateness of Architectural Choiceswith respect to the socio-economic, environmental, and geographiccontext of the chosen site”.

• Energy efficiency concerns from the Past: The ingenious adaptabilityof predecessors was imitated in terms of sustainable exploitations ofnatural resources in current times.

• Jury and Team formation: The jury was composed of the facultymembers of participating universities in addition to other invited jurors.Professors of the three participating universities distributed the studentsinto 6 groups, each of which included members from the threeuniversities as well as from the different levels of student status (rangingfrom sophomore to graduate levels). The main rationale behind thischoice was two-fold; first, to ensure an academic exchange betweenstudents of different educational backgrounds, and second to providethe participants with a challenging yet unique academic experience.

• Certificates & Awards: On Monday afternoon, May 23, the juryevaluated and decided on the best project and awarded three winningteams according to presentation, creativity and applicability. Certificateswere distributed to all student participants.

Jean-Pierre El AsmarThe design group below was short listed among six of 270international entries to follow up on the second phase of theInternational UUrban DDesign IIdeas CCompetition oon MMartyrs’ SSquarelaunched in June 18th, 2004, by SOLIDERE jointly with UnionInternational Architects (UIA) and the UNESCO.

The design group consisted of:

Team Leader:Jean-Pierre El Asmar, Architect, Senior Lecturer FAAD, NDU, (Lebanon)

Coordinator Italian team:– Leonardo Checcaglini, Architect, independent researcher, Florence

(Italy)– Giuseppe Rinaldi, Architect Urban Planner, Florence (Italy)– Antonio Cantatore, Architect, independent researcher, Florence (Italy)– Matteo Lauriola, Architect, Florence (Italy)

University of Florence, Department of Architecture (Italy):– Alberto Baratelli, Architect, Professor, Department of Design– Chiara Di Carlo, student in Architecture– Nicola Lombardi, student in Architecture– Giovanni Rosi, student in Architecture– Gabriele Sestini, student in Architecture– Paola Somma, Urban Planner, Venice (Italy)

All the agonizing forces of thehuman stories that trigger changeson the Earth’s surface and on thecity itself can be read along thefault, like a physical sign of theconvergence of two similar butdifferent realities.

The present is nothing more than aphase between the past and thefuture that will form a layer ofarchaeological remains for thecenturies to come.

It is in this prospective that theintervention must be seen.

Beirut is now enjoying a period ofrelative stability and can reflect onand invent solutions for its future.We also are aware and convincedthat social justice and economicand environmental sustainabilityare essential conditions for futuredevelopment.

Our proposal is divided into threemain parts:

> The most southern part fromwhere the city penetrates intothe Beirut Central District (BCD),introducing new andunpredictable activities.

> Martyrs’ Square, providing anopportunity to pause, reflect,meet, etc.

> The northern part, extendingtowards the sea, and

The ProjectSigns of Mediterranean civilization abound in the city ofBeirut. Over the centuries, it has known ups and downs likeall turbulent societies. Constantly.Two parts of the city have now converged like continentalplates.

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intersecting with the east-westentrance (here too, newfunctions and new perspectiveswill be introduced).

Access from Damascus Road:This is the smoothest part of theproposal. The signs of the landfractures are becoming visible andrecall the period which wascharacterized by strong tensions.These signs, already crossed bytransversal directories of stitching,reach as far as the Square.

The lack of continuity in thevolume of the buildings in thisarea serves as an introduction tothe Square; here we find theentrances to the undergroundparking underneath the Martyr’sSquare.

Public buildings communicatingwith the Avenue du GénéralChéhab house socio-culturalactivities, and will receive thosewho enter the BCD.

A service centre will stand in themiddle. Its main ring will beoccupied by the urban and extra-urban public transport systemsterminal. From this point four buslines will lead in four differentdirections, thereby connecting thewhole city. In addition smallelectric shuttle tourist buses will linkthe inside of Martyrs’ Square with

the “Tell” area, with the Archaeological Museum in the northern part ofthe intervention area, and also with the Corniche shoreline towards theInstitute of Eastern Mediterranean Civilization. The “Saifi 2” residentialcomplex and another similar one to the west will complete the mixed-usecharacter of the area and will continue the rhythm of the urban fabricoutside the BCD reaching finally the Square.

From this point forward, water flows along the axis until it reaches themeeting point and lays the foundations for a new common path.

The Martyrs’ Square:Martyrs’ Square is a healing wound, whose sutures are giving it back tothe city. Here the point of convergence is rediscovered, as well as thepoints of contact. Bridges are spanned, roads are opened, and all theelements that will allow access are pursued. These will allow exchange,crossing, and flow, from inside the BCD as well as between the BCD andthe rest of the city.

The Square becomes at once a symbol of the conflicts that traumatizedthe city and the big event of today’s reconstruction.

The space of the street, offering more possibilities of social interaction, isgradually transforming.

The place of past conflicts is transformed into a place for futuregatherings. It becomes a moment of rest (once parked, we move in adifferent way) in which the perception of instability and conflicts(geological and social) generates a landscape of relation.

Various layers are participating inthe definition of a place ofexchange, where the public spacesappear to increase and multiply,taking advantage of the tectonicsocial movement. Streams ofpeople are crossing each otherwhile carrying out their differentactivities (walking, resting, selling,meditating, etc.); they interact likedrifting plates.

The earthquake that followedhuman events is the beginning ofa new human and physicalgeography. The ground is upliftedand mineral plates are also raised,gently bending and offeringpathways for walking, benches forsitting, connection ramps betweenthe various levels of the fracture,and also spaces hosting, betweenthe different stone layers,exhibitions and refreshmentfacilities. The rebirth of small treesand fragrant shrubs between thefractures offers pleasant shade.Water flows, disappears andreappears with fluxes running onthe rocky surfaces with the aim ofcreating through its evaporationthe typical microclimate of anArabian garden.

On the surface, and on both sidesof the square, the buildings opento the surrounding city, rarefiedshopping arcades, a fewcafeterias, restaurants and

walkways. Their main front elevations become a skin, a layer that popsup before the building itself, working as a double skin facade for climaticprotection, and going down to reach the underground of the fault’sfractures. A continuum of transparent tech-polarizing glass/steel screens,inclined due to the effects of the “earthquake”, are placed in reality toavoid solar rays during the warmest hours. These panels will enclose amicro-climatic space as a buffer between the interior spaces and theexterior spaces of the building. This space is open at the bottom, as wellas near the roof. This is an equipped public access, containing elevators,stairs, and linking walkways. These services sink underground, andconnect the surface to the lower levels.

Taking advantage of the natural movement of the air and the abundantuse of vegetation, this buffer zone will guarantee climatic comfort close tothe buildings, above all near the shops at street level.

The monument of the Martyrs is placed at the northern side of the square,positioned in the centre of gravity with respect to the new proposal. It isshown to its best advantage by being on a block that will also provideaccess to the last phase of the archaeological path towards the “Tell” site.With this element our intention is to put a visual target, aiming at evokingthe size of the old square, and clearly marking the following part of theGrand Axis.

Towards the sea:Here begins a new archaeological area.

This is where most important transformations have taken place, and willbecome the influential factor of the activities and functions which are

edges, will be enclosed by this system; this will be enhanced from theprivileged point of view towards the sea and the mountains of Lebanon,parts of the country’s constituting elements.

A green carpet protruding over the coastal line, is a final effect of theaction of the earthquake, and like the action of a wave uplifts the groundbefore it reaches rue de Trieste, and propels it into the waters invadingnew spaces. The expansion now goes towards the sea. A ramp will reachthe Institute of Eastern Mediterranean Civilizations, connected to theground, but half of it is suspended over the water, offering theopportunity to look back at the city by showing it to the world.

The Park and the Tell HeritageThe historical path is entirely articulated inside the BCD, suggesting apromenade starting from the Roman Baths, passing through the Gardenof Forgiveness, to Martyr’s Square, reaching the “Tell” area. This path is apark that alternates typical urban episodes with archaeological themesand landscaped areas (green elements, levelled ground). This path, is notintended to follow any chronological continuity; starting from this phaseof planning the future, it rotates along the traces of past civilization, andcollects and integrates contemporary structures. The new architecturebecomes archaeology. The moments of contemplation (Garden ofForgiveness), of study of the past (Tell area - archaeological museum andthe Museum of Mediterranean Navigation), of activities (Martyrs’ Squareand its axis), and for future planning (Institute of Eastern MediterraneanCivilization), have a specific identity and architectural character, being allpart of one physically connected discourse.

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essential to how the city sees itsfuture.

From the Square and towards thesea the path crosses throughdistinct poles: glass towers andcontemporary buildings towardsthe east, and buildings forarchaeological research and thestudy of the Mediterranean culturetowards the west. These buildingsare all designed to respectpreceding city stratifications. Theywill be elevated from the ground toallow them to be lived, followingthe approach adopted for theGarden of Forgiveness.

The skyscrapers to the eastern sideand towards the sea trace theintersection between the Axis andthe entrance directory from thenorthern shore. This entrance willnot only be the technological and“media” front for Beirut, but acrossroad and a place ofdelineation, a target and a livingplace, the focus of the entire“Corniche” shoreline circuit andwill offer the possibility to organizepublic events and exhibitions. Thiswill be secured by buildings forceremonies and shows, able tohost important events as well asimportant festivals (cinema, music,etc.).

The waterfront, which allows waterto invade the city modifying its

SECOND PRIZE:Elie Hawi, N.D.U, FAAD, Architecture DepartmentPROJECT:ARCHITEC-TAOIC; A CENTRE FOR TAOIST ARTS.

ARCHITEC-TAOIC is a wordinvented by E. Hawi to express thespirit of the project, which is anarchitecture shaped and mouldedby Taoist concepts.

The project tackles the thought ofTaoist philosophy, one of theoldest oriental philosophies, whichaffected the way of life, in all itsdetails, of the Chinese population.

Founded by Lao-Tse (604-531BC), Taoisim concerned the well-being of humans in a tendency toestablish the equilibrium betweennature and human beings.

Tao can be roughly translated intoEnglish as path, or the way.Basically, it is not definable; it israther experienced. It “refers to apower which envelops, surroundsand flows through all things, livingand even non-living; also itregulates natural processes andnourishes balance in theUniverse.”

Thus, the morphology of the

CHADIRJI AWARD forArchitecture Students inLebanon 2004

Centre of Taoist Arts resulted fromthe application of Taoist conceptsin the design process, of which themost important are:

– The Yin Yang (symbolizing timeand change, interdependence,conciliation betweencontradictions.)

– The Five Elements. (as thestructure and cycle of nature)

– Wu Wei (Nothingness).

Finally, the result of thatdevelopment was a project whereE. Hawi negated thestandardization in architecture byintroducing forms, shapes andmaterials in a way to re-questionhuman perception while enhancingthe semiotic effect of architectureshowing Taoist principles.

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Global Message:A Landmark for humanachievements

THE GLOBEAbstractIt is known that civilization is whatman leaves behind, for instancecooking and hunting tools;drawings and writings on stone oranimal skins or clothes; weapons;and farming instruments. All thesethings provide a glimpse into thedaily lives and customs of pastcivilizations. Some of the mostnoticeable and interesting thingsare the buildings, homes,monuments, temples, and otherstructures that reflect the time inwhich they were built and in whichthey served their usefulness. Forexample, the Pyramids of Egypt,the Acropolis, Baalbek and manyother monuments.

Structures usually serve a function,but they can also be symbols thatidentify a place or represent acultural belief or value of a certainpopulation. Such structures arecalled landmarks that characterizea locality.

Others serve as symbols orlandmarks, such as the EiffelTower and the Statue of Liberty,but these are not representatives ofthe present century population,and their cultural values.

The main theme of the project is tomake a building, a monument thatreflects the beliefs, the way ofthinking, the latest technologies,and the identity of our world.

Herbert Marshall Mc Luhan argued in his famous “The Medium is theMessage” (1967) that societies have been shaped more by the nature ofthe medium by which people communicate than by the content of thecommunication. Being a powerful communication medium, architecture,in this respect, has been and will always be a conveyor of messages andan embodiment of ideas.

In this ever-growing globalized world, one would question theparadoxical aspects of globalization especially if the ease of proliferationof values and ideologies is taken into account. The “One World” claim isfaced with the increasing number of smaller nations, the annihilation ofsome borders balanced by the drawing of others, and thedemocratization of knowledge concurrent with medieval wars and terror.

Far from being morally critical, we intend to perceive globalization as thebonding agent of human values and architecture as a major medium toconvey and celebrate the great achievements of human kind. Architecture,through the proposed design, is thus endeavoring to express the spirit ofits time and to favor the emergence of a global feeling of belonging.

The site of the proposed design is in the Atlantic Ocean near BermudaIsland, a controversial location for a global-scale project. A site where theremains of the wrecked ship of all “minor / lesser belongings” willmetamorphose into a floating monument. A monument for the newconsciousness of the world community as a global village.

Floating on water, levitating above all roots, the proposed design willconsider the use of cutting-edge technology and High-Tech materials suchas Magnetic Levitation, the Aero-Gel materials, the Nanno-Carbon tubes,The Crystal Glass, etc.

Many questions are to beanswered for the justification ofsuch a project:

– The Egyptian pyramids and otherstructures have withstood the testof time. What modern-daystructures do we think will bearound in the year 3000?

– What did our technology lead usto that can be used in thislandmark and represent ourachievements?

– How can contemporaryarchitecture express “as it hasalways been” the spirit of itstime?

– And how can it then celebratethe human values that arerelevant to Global culture?

– How can we Architects helpemerge global belonging inresponse to the endangeringlocal fanaticism?

The proposed project is thereforeperceived as a monument thatcelebrates mankind’s achievementsin their global dimension.

Description of the projectFormed by a tetrahedron with a300m side, the sphere has adiameter of 100m, floating in theair all the time at 15m from waterlevel by the use of the magneticfield.

The outer structure of the sphere ismade of a satellite skin, connectedto the whole world, so everything isupdated instantly and covered with

crystal glass that can be totallytransparent and opaque at thesame time.

A virtual show will take placeinside the sphere, showingeverything in a hologram form, sowe can watch and experience allthe achievements done till today,and by that we can watch theevolution of Humanity and the wayit affected our life.

The elevator is about 15m indiameter, and is specially designedfor the project, with no cables orrails, and it transports people fromthe middle slab at water level tothe center of the sphere.

The Slab at the center of thesphere is made of transparent

glass, hung by the use of nano-carbon tubes, completely invisible,1cm thick and able to 5400kg.

This transparency will make usexperience a new kind of space, asif we were floating at 60m abovewater level.

If we can adapt a globalmonument to different existingcontexts, we would then helpspread a global understanding ofhuman values.

Rony Pierre Imad.For contact and informationAddress: Le Castor Building, 5th floor, NewJdeideh, Lebanon.Mobile: +961 3 362303Tel/Fax: +961 1 900200Email: ronyimad@hotmail.com

Suspension of the Project

Patchi Packaging Competition

As part of the Packaging Course ofthe Graphic Design program andthe links with the industry that theprogram is establishing, Ms.Rebecca Kelendjian, MarketingManager of Patchi Industrial,visited FAAD to officially brief thesenior students on the projectrequirements and the prices for thePatchi Packaging Competition.

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As part of the learning processand the effort to simulate a trueprofessional environment, thesenior students of the GraphicDesign program at FAAD heard aseries of lectures throughout themonths of April and May.

The first lecture was presented byMr. RRamzi CChoueiri, ManagingDirector of Reem Trading, on April25 in the FAAD Design Studio. Itcovered paper properties, use andcharacteristics. Mr. Choueiri dealtwith the paper production process,the different varieties and types ofpaper and their appropriate use inprinting.

Mr. JJimmy GGhazal, a Design Dept.graduate, currently working withQuantum and Saatchi & Saatchi aswell as freelancing, next spoke onhis professional experience and histransition period from a student toa practicing designer. Mr. Ghazalpresented his portfolio and thecorporate identity he created forAoun Supermarket.

Professional DesignPractice Lecture Series

The third lecture was presented byMr. GGhassan CChawraba, agraduate from the London Collegeof Printing and owner ofCalligraph Printing Press. Mr.Chawraba covered the relationshipbetween the designer and theprinter. He showed examples ofprinting techniques, special effectsand the proper preparation forsuch tasks. The lecture thencovered some typical problemsand errors that designers facewhen dealing with print houses tomaximize the quality of the output.

Mr. BBassam CCordahi, accountant,delivered the fourth lecture,covering the fiscal system that thestudents will face as freelancers.Mr. Cordahi presented anoverview to the students on theirduties and rights once they are inbusiness in relation to theLebanese government and itsTreasury Department.

Finally, Mr. JJean AAkl, lawyer andlegal counsellor, dealt with issuesrelated to copyright law, trademark

infringements, intellectual propertyprotection and the counterfeitsthat every practicing designer willface. Mr. Akl also stressed theimportance of brand identity andintegrity from a legal and designpoint of view.

The overall feedback of thestudents was extremely positive, asany academic program must haveits links and be rooted in theprofessional environment, toprepare the students adequatelyfor real life professional practice.

This inter-university event wasfollowed by a visit to Patchipremises in Siblin.

The students were welcomed bythe Marketing Manager andCorporate Identity Consultant andthen toured the productionfacilities, chocolate factory, printinghouse, manual packaging sectionand showroom. At the end of thevisit, Mr. Choukair, CEO of Patchi,delivered the prizes to the winningstudents. Mr. Jean Mark Tarabayreceived the third prize, while Ms.Sevan Kouyoumjian and Ms. TaniaBoutros received two special prizesfor their remarkable combinationof colours and materials. Allvisitors received a surprise giftprepared by Patchi. The boardmembers expressed their intentionto pursue collaboration with NDUon future projects, as they werevery pleased with the outcome andvariety of the projects.

GO GREEN AnnualCompetition (energy savingand rural tourism awarenesscampaign)

The Applied Typographic Designjunior students took part in acompetition launched bySchtroumpf / UNDP under the GoGreen theme of creatingawareness to save energy andpromote rural tourism in Lebanon.The outcome of this inter-universitycompetition will be announced onJuly 2005 in a forum at theSchtroumpf premises in Jounieh.This is the third year in a row thatthe Graphic Design students haveparticipated in this event, with asuccess level on every occasionvarying from first to third prize,depending on the category enteredand the theme of each year.

Layout Arabic TypeCompetition

As part of the AdvancedTypographic Design course of theGraphic Design program and thelinks with the industry that theprogram is trying to establish, thesenior students have taken part inan inter-university competition todesign a new Arabic typeface to besold in the market on a CDbearing the University name andthe students selected.

After a long process of design andpreparation, the following studentshave their type designed featuredon the CD: Carla Khater, HishamGhneim, Samar Zablith, Marie-Joelle Tayyah, Muriel Moukawem,Sandra Amine, Charbel Karam,Henry Dahan, Hala Abi Aad,Sevan Kouyoumjian and LeaZahar.

The prizes were to distributed atthe Layout premises in Beirut onJune 17, 2005 and the CDlaunched in the market.

Profile Intermedia 7 Conference, Bremen, Germany

On December 3, 4, 5 2004, John Kortbaoui, Graziella Daghfal andDiane Mikhael attended the yearly International Design Conference:Profile Intermedia 7, Bremen Germany.

Profile Conference definition.

— Profile Intermedia Conference accepts each year entries from allcountries and has international recognition.

— The conference subjects concentrate on the following:Design, Art, Music, Communication, Fashion, Film, Digital Media,Video, Photography, Architecture, Performance.

— Speakers at this conference are professionals in their fields. Guestspeakers are invited to lecture and hold workshop sessions, which areorganized in parallel to the conference presentations.In the very fast film workshop competition, we presented a 5-minute fastfilm as a result of a three-day workshop on shooting and editing thetheme ‘Love Story’.

Many films were presented (around 12 films) and submitted for thecompetition.

Out of the films presented, three were nominated by a jury of sevenassessors in the field of digital media and films. The nominees wereclassified to win the first, second and third prize. We, Diane, Graziellaand John, won the second prize Silver Award.

We would like to mention that our participation has presented NotreDame University, Lebanon to an international audience of 1000participants from all over Europe, America and the Middle East.

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An Ethno-MusicologicalExpeditionLebaneseFolklore inDanger!

Ahmed KarkanawiMusicology student

On Saturday, 21st May, 2005,students of the MusicologyDepartment were launched on ascientific mission to gather andstudy the folklore songs of thefishing community of Batroun, ledby the Reverend Professor EliasKesrouani, Chairman of theDepartment. During ourexpedition, we spent several hoursmeeting and talking with thefishermen.

They talked about their concerns,their worries, their sufferings, theindifference of the government, thepollution of the sea, and thegeneral bad situation they aresuffering from. With the socialbitterness leading to an extremelyindividualized society, thecontinued neglect on the part ofthe government, and the lack ofany institutions taking care of thefolklore, the musical traditions arestruggling to survive and apriceless human legacy is inserious danger of extinction.

AbstractThe evolution of Lebanesearchitecture shows an evidentdeterioration of the relationshipbetween the built environment andthe existing microclimate. Man’sdrive for comfort has always been,and will continue to be, anultimate aim in his daily life. Thisfactor was responsible forgradually switching from thetraditional architecture to a varietyof modern forms. While achievingthis needed comfort, man slowlybecame dependent on newtechnologies for lighting, heating,cooling, all relying on fossil fuel orother polluting sources.

Traditional Lebanese architecture isa valuable reference for practicalapplication and live examples inconservation and environmentalawareness. But is this onlyhistorical heritage or could it alsobe applied to contemporaryarchitecture? How strong is therelationship between Preservationand Energy Conservation? Is therea possibility of achieving comfortusing the traditional ways?

The advantages of energyconservation in buildings arefinancial, social and physical.However, due to the lack of publicawareness on how traditionalarchitectural values and contributesto contemporary energy saving,this study aims at showing:

1. The deterioration of therelationship between themicroclimate and the builtenvironment from the Lebanese“traditional” application tocontemporary architecture.

2. How comfort, in all its forms,plays an important role inshaping human behavior andsociety.

3. How comfort can bemaintained, economically andphysically, when achievedthrough the preservation of therelationship with thesurrounding microclimate.

ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE& METHODS of itsPRESERVATIONHabib MelkiSenior Lecturer – ArchitectNDU – Lebanon

Enclosure/Disclosure:Preserving the Relationshipbetween the BuiltEnvironment and itsMicroclimate“The starting point of the future isthe ending point of the past.”Tombazis, A. N., PLEA 2004

Enclosure Enclosure according to Webster isdefined as “the act or action ofenclosing: the quality or state ofbeing enclosed.” I would like totranslate it and think of it as “theisolation and deterioration of therelationship between man and hisenvironment.”

The Industrial Revolution hasaffected human life in differentaspects and levels, especiallyhuman thinking. Through time,simple and raw natural materialsin their pure natural state slowlygave way to synthetic and man-made products. Man enclosed andisolated himself, using technologyas the means to provide comfortand security. He drifted into themagical world of the “new” andignored the natural environment,not realizing the consequences tofollow. His “enclosure” andisolation from what is around him,resulted in shaping societies thatadapt and adjust with the changeof time. Dependencies shifted fromthe use of renewable naturalresources to machines relying onfossil fuel. This issue tremendously

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affected the building industry in thevery concept of design andarchitectural approaches. Themodern trend in architectureshaped by the industrial revolutionbroke the continuity of the oldconcepts. Technology forgenerating heat and light fromfossil-fueled machinery hasfundamentally reorganized the waybuildings are designed. Sun, wind,and light have traditionally beenthe fundamental sources of form,order, and organization in thegeneration of buildings. The abilityto produce heating, cooling andlighting by mechanical means haschanged the way today’s buildingsare designed. One consequence isthat buildings are now responsiblefor about half of all the fuelsburned worldwide. Half theelectricity generated in this countryis used just to light our buildings.Burning fossil fuel to heat, cool,and light our poorly adaptedbuildings adds a concentration ofCO² emission into the atmosphere– global warming. Over the next100 years an estimate of thedegree of warming is from 1.5°Cto 4°C; it being borne in mind thelife span of buildings is 50-150years, it is clear that manybuildings designed today will needto survive quite differenttemperature conditions in thefuture. (Edwards, B. 2002, p. 21)

Almost two watts per square meteris the rate at which these human-made gases are heating theearth’s surface, as if two miniatureChristmas tree bulbs (one bulbdissipates about one watt in theform of heat) were placed overevery square meter of the earth’ssurface, burning night and day.

“At present, our most accurateknowledge about climate sensitivityis based on data from the earth’shistory, and this evidence revealsthat small forces, maintained longenough, can cause large climatechange.

“The stability of the great ice sheetson Greenland and Antarctica andthe need to preserve globalcoastlines set a low limit on theglobal warming that will constitute‘dangerous anthropogenicinterference’ with climate.

“Halting global warming requiresurgent, unprecedented internationalcooperation, but the needed actionsare feasible and have additionalbenefits for human health,agriculture and the environment.”(Hansen, J. 2004. p.42).

Disclosure Disclosure on the other hand isdefined by Webster as “exposure,discovery and revelation”.

Reconciliation and unificationbetween man and environmentwould be the term I’d prefer touse.

Throughout history, man haslearned from his surroundingenvironment, passing to futuregenerations successful solutions toproblems. By trial and error heeliminated impractical applicationsand kept the ones that worked. AsHassan Fathi states:

“Successful solutions were passed onin form of traditions, rigid, andapparently arbitrary rules forselecting sites, orienting the buildingand choosing the materials, buildingmethods and design. In this senseboth the material and the way it isused is very important.”

Microclimate concepts ensured oldbuildings fitted into theirsurrounding. Being in harmonywith the environment, Lebanesevernacular structures wereintegrated within the naturalsetting, without causing majorchanges to the site. Excavation wasminimal and, depending on thetopography of the land, thestructure was implanted (see figure3). Climate was also a factor ofsite consideration. Wind patternsand the annual sun path played asignificant role. Building locationwas considered so that future

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Fig.1 Planet Earth, National GeographicFig.2 North Pole, National Geographic, Sept. 2004Fig. 3 Integrated Structure. Kassatly, H. p. 38Fig. 4 No High Ground

Male, the island capital of the Maldives, isthreatened by the serenely blue Indian Ocean. Ifscientists' projections come true and sea levelrises more than three feet, the Maldives andother low-lying atoll nations could be underwater by century's end.National Geographic. September 2004.

Fig. 5 Corpus Levant, 2004Fig. 6 Vernacular Structure. Kassatly, H. p. 74

development on adjacentproperties would not block accessto winter sunlight. This locationalso allows open space for winteractivities or gardens to be exposedto as much winter sun as possible.

Thus it is essential to turn back andexamine how our ancestorsresponded to problems of lighting,heating, ventilation and otherquestions pertaining toarchitectural design. The Lebanesevernacular architecture can serveas a valuable source for solutionsthat are perfectly adapted to ourclimate today. The introduction ofnew methods and materials to thetraditional was not based onscientific experimentation, but foreconomic and social benefits ofusing the modern and “new”.Another factor that played a keyrole in selecting the new materialwas the cost and the speed bywhich it is applied.

We need to explore: what is sosignificant in the Lebanesevernacular constructions prior to1890, which led them to beuniquely generated by localmaterials and climatic conditions?Is it a mere link between our pastand our future? Could they be avaluable source of inspiration thatoffers answers to simple forgottenquestions? Much needs to belearned.

ResponsibilityWhere are we today and whereare we heading in the future?What demands and needs drive usto develop as professionals,educators and parents? Power,financial security, happiness or acertain standard of living? Howmany of us can truly admit that theexpectations of individualresponsibilities towards the “self”are being fulfilled? How aboutresponsibilities towards family?Better yet how about towardscountry and finally the ultimateresponsibility towards the planetEARTH?

Responsibility sometimes doesn’treach beyond one’s comfort andfinancial needs. We tend to ignoreanything beyond these factors ofsecurity. But what is security? Is itan economic state of mind as wellas the continued need to exist?Continuity from where and forwhat? Again it is inevitable tryingto avoid the past and future:

”[It has] become apparent thathuman life is not limited to a singlelife span but goes far beyond. It is asimpossible to sever its contacts withthe past as to prevent its contactswith the future. Something liveswithin us which forms part of the verybackbone of human dignity: I callthis the demand for continuity.” (Giedion, S. l957, taken from: Madex D. ed.,

All About Old Buildings p. 30)

Even though global resources arediminishing at an accelerated rate,contemporary human civilizationcontinues to depend onconstruction for its continuedshelter and existence. 50% of allresources consumed across theplanet are used in construction,making it the least sustainableindustry in the world and causingdifficulties for our planet to supportit. Clearly, something has tochange and architects as buildingdesigners have an important roleto play in that change. (Edwards,B. 2002, p. 1)

Energy Use and GlobalWarmingHeating, lighting and cooling ofbuildings directly through theburning of fossil fuels (gas. coal.oil), and indirectly through the useof electricity, is the primary sourceof CO² (carbon dioxide), the maingreenhouse gas. CO² emissionshave been increasing since theindustrial revolution and continueto rise in spite of internationalawareness, mainly due to –

1. rise in human population(currently six billion andexpected to reach ten billion by2050);

2. the legacy of older, inefficientbuildings (the existing buildingstock globally is replaced at arate of under 2% per year); and

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3. rise in consumer standards, withthe corresponding growth in air-conditioning, electrical gadgetsof various kinds and increasingamounts of travel. (Edwards, B.2002, p. 21)

The use of intelligent technologiesand the shift from non-renewalresource exploitation to self-sustaining renewable practices isthe key to a symbiotic relationshipwith the land. As one of the unitsof the city, the design of buildings,moderated by life-cycleassessments, can play its part inthis. (Edwards, B. 2002, p. 2)

There are three options availableto reduce CO² levels:

1. Nuclear energy, promotedinitially as a clean energysource, has its own well-publicized environmentalproblems.

2. Carbon conversion is a valuablemeans of viewing the linkbetween development and thecarrying capacity of the landwhich supports it in terms ofenergy. The idea is based uponthe ability of trees and forests toconvert CO² back into oxygen,which occurs via photosynthesis;however in practice it is notfeasible (every household needstwo acres of woodland toconvert its CO²). (Edwards, B.2002, p. 26)

3. Renewable energy generated

from solar, wind andgeothermal energy and, at amacro-scale, wave, hydro andtidal power are the mainsources of nonpolluting but notalways sufficiently exploited.Potentially, renewable energycould satisfy all of mankind’senergy demands. The totalenergy of the sun far exceedsthat required for human use.The problems, however, are todo with distribution, storage,conversion and application ofthis solar energy into a formuseful for heating buildings,driving machinery and thecountless other tasks which arenow performed by burningfossil fuels. Renewable energycan be exploited for use inbuildings in a variety of ways.(Edwards, B. 2002, p. 29)

It is important to consider potentialrenewable sources at an earlydesign stage. Sites can be selectedon the basis of their access toenergy sources, in addition toother early design decision such asorientation, building footprint andlocation on the site and themethod of exploitation at thebriefing and sketch design stage.(Edwards, B. 2002, p. 29)

Climate Change and BuildingDesignWhile designing buildings, theexpected life span should beconsidered. With this in mind,adjusting to climate change inrules and regulations must bedealt with. Rules should be flexibleto deal with such changes. Makingprovisions for future inclusionswithin the building must beconsidered, just as one mustconsider upgrading of a newlypurchased computer for at least 2– 5 years before new hardware isdiscovered and the old becomeobsolete. Maybe, when designingnew structures, new and shorterlife expectancies must beconsidered. However, the existingbuilt environment should be dealtwith as a starting point of a newtransitional period, a period thatwill continue to have historicbuildings as a model example oftheir specific time of climateresponsive design while newdevelopments deal with theirpresent time-frame. As statedpreviously, buildings designed andengineered today will still bestanding when climate changebites. By 2050, it is estimated thatglobal temperatures may have

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Fig. 7. Site - A Green Vitruvius. p. 35Fig. 8 East/West OrientationFig. 9 North/South OrientationFig. 10 & 11. Storing the heat and preventing the coldFig. 12 The periodic heat flow through a light and heavy wall of the same U-value:

- 10 mm polystyrene slab (U = 2.17 Wm²K)- 800 mm of dense concrete slab {also U = 2.17 Wm²K),Szokolay., S., taken from (Roaf, S. 2003).

Fig.13. Heat Transfer www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs17.htmFig.14 Heat Gain & Loose www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs17.htmFig. 15. Solar Path - A Green Vitruvius. p. 71Fig. 16. Site Integration- A Green Vitruvius. p. 34Fig. 17. Reducing north winds

risen by 2°C and by 2100 perhapsas much as 4°C. Once triggered,the rise is exponential (see figure4). There will be pressure onbuilding systems, on the buildingfabric itself, on land settlementpatterns and on transportation.Apart from avoiding furtherbuilding on flood plains, there arethree principles to follow indesigning buildings for climatechange:

> the building shell and footprintis fundamental to long-termsurvival, adaptability andenergy-efficiency

> one must build to a higherinitial standard (betterinsulation, higher qualitymaterials); and

> one must provide the means toupgrade building systems,especially in the areas ofcooling and in the provision ofrenewable energy. (Edwards, B.2002, p. 27)

Energy & Preservation99% of houses currently being builtare obsolete, because they ignoreclimatic requirements. ”In the daysof cheap energy, it might havemade a kind of short-sightedeconomic sense to destroy oldstructures, but that era endedforever with the oil embargo of1973.... The preservation and

renovation of residential,commercial and industrialstructures will itself be a majorindustry within a few years. Theforce behind this emergingindustry is the philosophicaltransition away from a throwawaysociety based on an illusion thatresources are unlimited – toward anew kind of civilization groundedin permanence, balance andorder. Through historicpreservation’s leadership, it will bemade obvious to all that two vitalsocial goals – energy conservationand historic preservation – areself-reinforcing.” (Sawhill J., 1981.p. 33)

It is possible to build a house thattakes minimal amounts of energyto heat and cool, maximizes theuse of daylight instead of artificiallight, and minimizes the energycosts of manufacture of itscomponents. As a general rule,copy the traditional architecture ofpre-technological people who havesuccessfully lived in that kind ofclimate for a long time. (Rich, B.)

Vernacular builders have to makesure that their structures are highlyefficient. They can only use localmaterials and constructiontechniques that make economicsense. The running cost of theirstructures, especially energyconsumption, has to be lowbecause of the limited resourcesavailable. (Behling, S. 2000)

One main issue of the presenttimes is the focus on the builtenvironment. What pertains to thepresent times of major concern ishow to deal with what exists 99%rather than new construction. Withthe current world populationincrease, resource shortages orsink limits (the ability of naturalsystems to absorb pollution) arecreating a greater stress on theworld’s ecosystems. Society needsto adopt a strategy which bringsimprovement in living conditionswithout global disaster. Quality oflife can be maintained but onlythrough the adoption of the four Rs- reduce, re-use, recycle andrecover. In the context of this study,only the re-use aspect will beaddressed. (Edwards, B. 2002, p.64)

Embodied energy is the energyconsumed by all the processesassociated with the production ofthe building. Once a building orcity is created, it becomes a capital

Fig.18. Solar Path A Green VitruviusFig.19. Southern ExposureFig.20. Window ByblosFig.21 Natural Cooling & Window Cross

Ventilation

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asset. Within its bricks andconcrete lie resources and humaninvestment which should be re-used over generations and acrosschanging building-use priorities.This means that the buildingshould be robust in form andconstruction, should be sociallyvalued and should be well located.Re-use of the whole or re-use ofparts is preferable to demolition orrecycling. (Edwards, B. 2002, p.65)

Re-use requires the architect toaddress the design task that fits theperiod of rapid social andtechnological change. Obsoletebuildings un-adjustable to newtechnology are normallydemolished, adding to futureresource stress, disturbance,pollution and waste. Re-use alsoentails the rescuing of elements ofconstruction (steel beams, timber,bricks, etc.) for use in otherbuildings. Not many new buildingsare designed or constructed toencourage re-use. Cement mortars(absence of lime) are often

stronger than the bricksthemselves, thus preventing theirre-use. Since the embodied energyof a brick would drive a car sevenmiles, the consequences areenormous for the millions of brickscreated (and wasted) every year.(Edwards, B. 2002, p. 67)

So the re-use philosophy requiresa change in how we design ourbuildings and a correspondingchange in how we construct them.Architects could create a majordemand for re-used componentssimply by specifying them. Thiswould not only generate a marketfor re-used components but leadto buildings of greater aestheticrichness and social value.(Edwards, B. 2002, p. 67)

Preserving the MicroclimateA principal purpose of building isto change the microclimate. Earlymen built houses to keep out theelements, rain, wind, sun, andsnow. Their purpose was toproduce an environment favorableto their comfort and even to theirsurvival. The microclimate on eachbuilding site is changed intoseveral different microclimates asthe result of the construction of thehouse itself. Inside the building,each room has its ownmicroclimate which is amodification of one or more of theoutdoor microclimates. Althoughtraditional architecture was evolvedintuitively over long periods, it was

based primarily on scientificallyvalid concepts. The modernacademic world of architecturedoes not emphasize the value ofinvestigating and applyingconcepts scientifically and,therefore, has no respect forvernacular architecture. Now is thetime to bridge the gap betweenthese widely different approaches.Today more attention is beinggiven to the relationship betweenclimate and architecture, andseveral building researchorganizations are beginning toexamine this relationship. (Fathy,H. 1986)

Climate and VernacularArchitectureThroughout history, man haslearned from his surroundingenvironment, passing to futuregenerations successful solutionsto problems. By trial and error heeliminated impractical applicationsand kept the ones that worked. AsHassan Fathi states:

“Successful solutions were passedon in form of traditions, rigid, andapparently arbitrary rules forselecting sites, orienting thebuilding and choosing thematerials, building methods anddesign.”

Man is agile by nature and hassurvived by adapting to thechanges of his environment sincethe beginning of time. The new

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challenge is to choose or adaptour technology to minimize ourenvironment impact, whilstcontinuing to improve the comfortand performance of the homes wecreate. Historic buildings, inregards to architecture, werecoherent to their surroundingmicroclimate.

Post-industrial architecture driftedaway from the harmoniousconcept between the builtenvironment and its microclimate,ignoring and disregarding theissues of dealing with the exteriorand interior simultaneously.Relying more and more on newtechnologies has increased thegap by creating an isolationbarrier between man and hismicroclimate. Heating and coolingtechnology has freed us from thisas a necessity. Studying climates ofthe past will tell us how we shoulddeal with it in the future.Microclimates can be modified toenhance human comfort levels,thereby using less energy.(Edwards, B. 2002, p. 3)

Lebanon has witnessed thedisappearance and dissolution ofits structural features sincedevelopment erupted. Thesedetails range through perfectadaptation to site, intelligent use oflocal resources, energy efficientstructures and adaptation to theclimate. These corrupted structurestoday still reflect the old vernacularcharacter and identity. Theevolution of the Lebanese dwellingis directly linked to theenvironment itself; it is rooted tothe soil and has a naturalcharacter that reveals its spirit.(Liger-Belair, 2000).

Resources of Lebanon and itsMicroclimateLebanon is well enriched by itsvarious natural resources of land,sun, wind and water (four elementsof nature) which served as astepping stone and foundation forall the existing historic structuresbefore the industrial revolution.

Lebanon is a country with theadequate features to pursueenergy conservation inarchitecture. Geographicallocation, climatic conditions andsoil types all exist within theenvironmental framework.Lebanon, known for having “300sunny days”, also has vasthydraulic and aeolian energy

potential. Traditional energysources, especially those that arepetroleum-based, have becometoo costly for industry. There is anurgency to find other energysources such as solar, hydraulic,and wind power. Besides beingenvironmentally friendly, these arenatural and readily available inLebanon. There is ample evidenceto support greater exploration ofalternative energy sources.

The Mediterranean climate zone isthe closest to an ideal climate(Behling, S. 2000, p.57). Lebanonin general is fortunate to beendowed with such a climate,which currently is not exploitedfully. In fact, at present inLebanon, most modernarchitectural designs tend to ignorethe environment. It is with minorinterventions that architects applystrategies of passive energyconcepts within their design.

Passive and Low EnergyArchitecture has not reached amature stage in Lebanon in spiteof the currently ongoing effortsundertaken by the private and thepublic sectors. Human and naturalresources, in addition to the richcultural heritage in Lebanon,provide strong potentials forimplementing climatic responsivedesign.

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Strategies inVernacular LebaneseArchitecture

Site ConsiderationThe performance of vernaculararchitecture is strongly affected bythe site and the siting of thebuilding in relation to itssurroundings as stated in “The CityShaped” by Spiro Kostof.

Vernacular structures wereintegrated within the naturalenvironments, without causingmajor changes to the site.Excavation was minimal and,depending on the topography ofthe land, the structure wasimplanted. Climate was also afactor of site consideration. Windpatterns and the annual sun pathplayed a significant role. Theinfluence of geography can beobserved in the adoption of certaintypes of construction and thearrangement of the houses. In theBeqa’a the grouping of closedrectangular houses predominates;the detached house is rare. On the

western slopes of the Lebanonrange we find, in spite of thearticulated formation of valleysand the mountainous character,the land determines house formand house orientation. Theorientation of the houses isgenerally dictated by thetopography. (Ragette, F. 1986).

Effects of Climate on BuildingShape and Orientation Generally, vernacular buildingsoriented along an east-west axisare more efficient for both winterheating and summer cooling. Thisorientation allows for maximumsolar exposure to the south forcapturing the heat. This orientationis also advantageous for summercooling conditions since itminimizes east-west exposure tomorning and afternoon summersunlight. This does not mean thatall vernacular buildings wererigidly shape oriented. Differentbuilding shapes and orientationswere designed to performefficiently by combining effectiveopenings, solar exposure, andshading into the building form.Depending upon the site,topography, and shape of theavailable space, orientations otherthan east and west may bedesirable.

Envelope Area to Volume Ratio Reducing external surface area -through which heat is exchanged -also reduces heating or cooling-energy. Compact volumes haveless surface area to cool In hotclimates, high rooms allow warmair to stratify well above yourhead, and increased air-volumetakes longer to warm up. In coolones, however, energyconsumption is related to the sizeof buildings. But whether roomsseem spacious and restful orclaustrophobically cramped is asmuch due to their quality as theirdimensions (Day, C., 2002).

Architectural forms are dictated bythe climate. The proportion ofwindow area to wall area and howthe gabled roof decreases in pitchis an example of this issue. Thetemptation to create up-to-datedesigns should not prevent amodern architect from beingfunctional. Forgetting theenvironment into which he willimplant his buildings will take theform out of its context. Thetechniques and equipmentavailable to the architect today freehim from nearly all materialconstraints. He is responsible towhat surrounds the site, and, bybuilding without reference to theenvironment, he is committing acrime against architecture andcivilization. (Fathy, H. 1986)

Fig.22 & 23 Contemporary approach towindows.

Fig. 24 Shading. Kassatly, H. p. 48Fig. 25 Passive Heating during winter

season Fig. 26 Passive Shading.Fig. 27 Sidon Café, Stafford, M., 1998.

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Microclimate & Thermal mass:Heavy walls in vernaculararchitecture constitute “thermalmass” which acts as a storage forthermal energy. Depending on theconductivity of the material, theheat is conducted through the walland the rate of the heat flowdepends on the thickness and thedifference in temperature betweenthe conditions on the two sides ofthe wall.

The insulation and thermal massshould not be confused. Thermalmass stores and re-radiates heat.Insulation stops heat flowing intoor out of the building. Thermalmass is not a substitute forinsulation and a high thermalmass material is not generally agood thermal insulator. (Roaf, S.2003. p. 76).

At the exterior of the vernacularhouse, thermal mass such asmasonry walls and roofs reducesthe rate of heat absorption andslows internal temperature rise onhot days.

For optimum summer cooling, avernacular structure’s surroundingswere designed to minimizesummer sunlight striking externalsurfaces, and to preventsurrounding area heat re-radiationand reflection. The diffusion ofundesirable summer direct sun

and thermal impacts was achievedthrough use of vegetation i.e.deciduous trees which interrupt thesummer sun’s direct path, andground covers which preventground reflection as well askeeping the earth’s surface cooler,thereby preventing re-radiation.

North WallsDuring winter, the north side of abuilding receives little direct solarimpact due to shading from thewinter sun, which is low in the sky,while the south side is exposed tothe benefits of winter sunexposure. The area that is mostlyaffected by solar exposure receivesthe most sunlight between thehours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.during the winter months. In aneast-west oriented building, anorth-facing exterior wall will be amajor source of heat loss sinceheat always moves toward thecold. Variations of reducing heat

loss conditions in north wallsinclude backing the building into asloped hillside or providing a berm(the level area separating ditchfrom bank on a hill-fort orbarrow), both of which reduce theexposed north area to the coldwinds and heat loss. In spite ofthese factors during the wintermonths, north-side open spaceusually is rendered for outdoorsummer activities during the day.

South Wall

Solar PathA vital element in both the passiveand active measures, the highsummer pattern and the low winterpattern, play major roles in coolingand heating.

Southern Exposure The major southern exposureutilizes the heat and transfers it toother parts of the structure, andshould be considered strongly.

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Windows & Natural CoolingWindows in historic buildings weresized and placed very accurately inorder to allow the required amountof light as well as air circulation.Openings were minimized on theeast and west walls where summersunlight is most intense. Thereason why the setting sun has astronger effect is due to the addedthermal impact of the earthreradiating the heat it has gainedduring the day. The summer sun ismuch higher in the sky and a goodstrategy was the use of deciduoustrees that shaded the south faceand roof during the summer.Windows were minimized to beconsistent with interiorrequirements and were recessed.Different dimensions of openingswere made to provide proper crossventilation and benefit from theprevailing summer winds. Cross-ventilation was achieved byinternal windows or vents betweenthe rooms and the central space,which originally was permanentlyopen. Furthermore, the veryposition of the central living space,

were another way to block sunlightin the summer and admit sunlightin winter until early spring as wellas Overhangs as shading devicesin the hot summer and to keeprain water away from walls,windows, etc.

Landscaping • Deciduous trees planted on the

east, south and west sidesprovide screening from the sun’srays in the summer, yet allow thesolar warmth to penetrate duringthe winder.

• Evergreen hedges will provide ashield against winter winds.

• Plant material is kept away fromthe face of the building not onlydue to the destructive effects butalso to the fact that it will keepthe walls damp and thus lowerits insulating value.

• Screening for sound pollutionalso should be considered.

Wind Patterns This also is an element of bothpassive and active measures. Thecool summer breezes as well asthe cold northern winds must beconsidered. Daytime flow patternsafter gaining heat are in theupward direction whereas theopposite occurs during the night.

Fortunately, the placement of thehouse parallel to the contours of

be it the liwan or the central hall,ensured that it was the coolestspace during the hot daytime.Shielded on its long sides by theadjacent rooms, the open end ofthe hall was turned either to thenorth or to the south in order toavoid deep penetration of thesun’s rays. Color played animportant role in the cooling ofstructures. Light-colored materialwas applied on exterior surfaces,reflecting excessive heat during thehot season. Other criteria played arole in selecting the position of theopenings such as views, naturallighting and privacy requirements.

Shading

South-facingSouth-facing openings can be asource of overheating duringsummer months. The potential foroverheating was controlled by thickthermal mass walls and roofs. Thethick, sometimes tapered, wallswere carefully designed to shadethe opening during the summer(sun higher in the sky) but notblock sunlight during the winter(lower in the sky). The use ofmovable outside wooden shutterswas also a means of shading.

Deciduous trees and scaffoldingsthat support deciduous vines (vinesthat lose their leaves in the winter)

28

Fig. 28 Plant Material reflecting Noise PollutionFig. 29 Plant Material reflecting Northern WindsFig. 30 Daily Wind PatternsFig. 31 & 32 Cooling by Evaporation. Market in Tripoli. Stafford, M., 1998Fig. 27 Mud House Kassatly, H. p. 142Fig. 28 Ghazir. Stafford, M., 1998

the slope and open towards thevalley in most cases also made itface the prevailing wind-directionand ensured the desiredventilation.

Within the house we find that aneffort was made to have foul-smelling areas, such as kitchensand bathrooms, on the leewardside of the living areas.

HumidityEvaporation of water in the air inorder to get a cooling effect isuseful only at a relative humiditywell below 50%. Consequently,elaborate cooling devices in theform of indoor fountains andcascades are not employed. Theyare only found in upper-classbuildings where they exist primarilyfor their decorative or acousticaleffect.

Climatic Effects on Materials• Lebanese architecture was

determined by the use ofmaterials and methods ofconstruction extracted from itsnatural resources and existingland.

• Bekaa: in the Bekaa valley ruralstructures are built from sun-dried-bricks and/or fromrammed earth that has beenentirely or partially whitewashed.Stones are softened andmalleable. (kassatly, 2000)

• North: volcanic eruptionscovered the land a long timeago; therefore great quantities oflava and black basalt are usedin their old structures.

• Mountain Lebanon: lime stonedeposit on this area distinguishesthe traditional Lebanesedwelling, generally the stone-built house. (Liger-Belair, 2000)

The causes that affect thedeterioration of materials consist of

external and internal factors. Theexternal factors include the sun,which with its ultraviolet raysdiscolors materials, increases thelevel of heat and has a primaryrole in the freeze-thaw cycle andtemperature variation during alldaily, seasonal and annualalterations. On the other handprecipitation, whether snow, hail,sleet, rain, freezing rain, fog, etc.,brings water and moisture veryclose to the building material andcauses extensive damage bypenetrating into any accessibleopening (Nashed, 1996). Gravityis another major cause of energyloss just as biological forces suchas birds, rats, fungus, vegetation,etc. The uncontrollable factorscausing energy loss are the naturaldisasters such as high winds,tornadoes, earthquakes,hurricanes, etc. And finally themajor cause of energy loss isMAN. Some of the factors inflictedby man are unnecessaryalterations, neglect, war,vandalism, environmental pollution(acid rain) and theft. As for theinternal factors of deterioration,moisture is the most detrimental tobuilding elements. Other causes ofinternal decay are contaminatedair, neglect and man.

Adobe construction is limited to theBeqa’a valley. Abundance of stonein the whole country offers theopportunity for good masonryconstruction. The availability ofstone and its continual use forconstruction produced families ofstone-masons who passed on theiraccumulated skill from generationto generation, evolving a mastery

Landscape Elements Cold Climate Temperate Climate Warm Climate

Ground cover or grassPaving

Shrubs against house wallDeciduous shade treesEvergreen treesWindbreak (trees, Bushes,fences)Windbreak used to funnelwind

negligible effect on all sideson south

on east, west and northnegligible effect on all sideson east, west and northon sides exposed to winterwindsundesirable on all sides

on southshaded if on south

on east, west and northon south and weston east and weston sides exposed to winterwindson sides exposed tosummer winds

on east, west and southshaded if on east, west andsouthon all sideson east and weston east and westundesirable on all sides

where cross possibleventilation

Source: “Energy Conservation with Landscaping,” by Richard Crenshaw. Federal EnergyAdministration with National Bureau of Standards. taken from Smith, Baird M., 1978.

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FAAD

and tradition of design in stonewhich is largely responsible for thehomogeneous character ofLebanese architecture.

Climatic Effects on CleaningStructuresHistoric buildings when first builthad a different microclimate thantoday’s. Climate was different, withless pollution and population, etc.Today, however, besidesdestructive techniques of abrasivecleaning (sand blasting), pollutantelements of different materials mayhave a much harsher impact onthe fabric if it is cleaned. Thegradual build-up of pollutants onthe fabric throughout its historymay be the only thing that ispreventing it from decaying anyfurther.

A common practice in Lebanon isthat whenever a structure needscleaning, a “new look”, theabrasive sandblasting methodseems to be the only method andtechnique applied. Even thoughthe technique may show a contrastof results, the abrasive methodsalways result in some loss of fabricand make the cleaned structuremore susceptible and exposed tothe unresolved pollutants.

ConclusionThis research not only arousesnostalgia but also gives the presentgeneration old but everlastingideas for an efficient building’sconstruction. The evolution of thetraditional Lebanese houses hasseemed to come to an end. Not

only is concrete improperly andexcessively used but also theecological architecture andequilibrium to the environment arenot being recognized as before.Intelligent methods of constructionas well as natural and architecturalsites must be acknowledged byevery Lebanese habitant. Althoughthese vernacular structures havealmost disappeared, we still cantrace their evolution and be awareof their natural environmentalcharacter.

We spend most of our lives inbuildings and the global humanpopulation is an urban rather thanrural species. We have lost sight ofthe land, seasonal cycles, thestruggle for food or warmth, andinstead we have become interestedin culture, sport and media.Architecture, too, has broken freeof its old bonds to locally sourcedmaterials, vernacular traditions,and the union between buildingsand the land. Cities owe noallegiance to the carrying capacityof the landscape in which they aresited. (Edwards, B. 2002, p. 51)

Education is one of the mosteffective methods. Teaching ourpresent generations aboutpollution and energy-efficientmethods is not only important; it isvital. Exploring passive conceptsused by old generations andimproving them with the acquiredscientific knowledge of the currentgenerations, we can lay strongfoundations for the future.

REFERENCES:– Behling, Sophia & Stefan. (2000). Sol

Power: The Evolution of Solar Architecture.Munich: Prestel.

– Corpus Levant. 2004. Rehabilitation:Traditional Lebanese Architecture,Leogravure, Beirut.

– Day, Christopher. 2002. Spirit & Place.Architectural Press.

– Edwards, Brian with Hyett, Paul, 2002.Rough Guide to Sustainability, RIBACompany, London.

– Fathy, Hassan. 1986. Natural Energy &Vernacular Architecture. The University ofChicago Press, Chicago.

– Hansen, James. 2004. Defusing the GlobalWarming. Scientific America, March 2004.

– Kassatly, Houda, 2000, Terres de Bekaa,Geuthner.

– Liger-Belair, Jacques, 2000. L’habitation auLiban / The dwelling in Lebanon, Geuthner.

– Maddex, Diane, ed. 1985. All About OldBuildings: The Whole Preservation Catalog.

– Giedion, Sigfried. 1957. The Beginnings ofArchitecture: The Eternal Present.Princeton, N.J.: Prince- ton UniversityPress.

– Maddex, Diane, ed. 1985. All About OldBuildings: The Whole Preservation Catalog.

– Sawhill, John C. 1981. ”Preserving Historyand Saving Energy: Two Sides of theSame Coin.” In New Energy f’rom OldBnildings. National Trust for HistoricPreservation. Washington, D.C:Preservation Press.

– Nashed, Fred. (1996). Exterior WallDesign. New York: McGraw Hill.

– National Geographic, 2004. GlobalWarming, Sept. 2004

– Ragette, Friedrich. (1985). Architecture inLebanon. New York: Caravan Books.

– Roaf, Sue. Fuentes, Manuel and Thomas,Stephanie. 2003. ECOHOUSE 2: A DesignGuide, Architectural Press.

– Smith, Baird M. (1978). 3 PreservationBriefs: Conserving Energy in HistoricBuildings. Washington D.C.: U.S.Government Printing Office.

– Stafford, Marilyn, 1998. Silent Stories: APhotographic Journey through Lebanon inthe Sixties. Saqi Books, London.

– Szokolay, Steve. 2004. Introduction toArchitectural Science: The Basic ofSustainable Design. Architectural Press.

– Thermie Program of the EuropeanCommission GXVII, Ed., 1999. A GreenVitruvius: Principles and Practice ofSustainable Architectural Design. James &James, Brussels.

– Tombazis, Alexandros N., 2004.Reflections on Sustainability and theProcess of Architectural Design, PLEA2004 Eindhoven.

www.greenhouse.gov.au/yourhome/technical/fs17.htm

THERMAL STANDARDSFOR BUILDINGS INLEBANON

Members from the Faculty of Architecture, Art, and Design and membersfrom Prime Design are currently developing the final phase of thedocument: CLIMATE AND COMFORT - passive design strategies forLebanon. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility and isimplemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Thelocal executive agency is the General Directorate of Urban Planning,Ministry of Public Works.

The project promotes familiarity with issues related to climate responsivedesign as applicable to the Lebanese climate and building characteristics.

The study looks at issues related to climate, comfort, and buildingcharacteristics in Lebanon. The sections constituting the document coverthe following:

Overview of the climate characteristics of Lebanon and an investigation ofthe related thermal comfort conditions.

Overview of the fundamental strategies related to passive heating andcooling.

Investigation of the impact of building envelope design on indoor thermalcomfort.

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35 36

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opening 13. encountered 14. go in 15. saturate17. where the rudder is 18. imitate like a monkey20. Canaanite god 21. heroic legend 23. help25. distant 26. handle on the head 27.

excessively 28. 24-hourly 31. Spanish painter32. distraction for Cerberus 34. short sleep 37.

shout 38. in the same way 39. hail, salute 41.

exist 42. interdiction 45. dirk 47. relax 48. Itcan be grand or comic.

Down: 1. cause of fatness 2. recipient 3. devour4. what one does in the arms of Morpheus 5.

small screen 6. recent past 7. wise men's guide8. midnight to midday 9. get up from sleep 12.

born on Christmas Day? 16. go down insubmission 18. Much _ about Nothing(Shakespeare) 19. attempt 22 is profitable 24.

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in or close by

Solutions to Issue 33

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trap 29. proof 30. ions 31. access 33.

tie 35. no 36. roe 37. SOS

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ire 5. wail 6. legacy 7. Erin 12. eye 13.

pall 14. terrifies 16. augur 19. moss 20.

pi 22. aspect 25. Ra 26. urn 27. posts29. pose 30. iso- 32. E.R. (ElizabethRegina) 34. Io

Something for your Grey Matter

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13

14 15 16

17

16 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26

27 28 29

25 31 32 33

34 35 36 37 38

39 40 30 41

42 43 44 33

35 45 46 37

30

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How is your English?Give the feminine of- 1. earl 2. marquis 3.boar 4.

gander 5. drake 6. dog 7. stallion 8. young bull 9.

ram 10. abbot

Solutions to crossword above

Feminines:1.countess (earl is the British/Irish title fora count) 2. marchioness 3.sow (female pig havinghad young) 4.goose 5.duck 6. bitch 7. mare 8.

heifer 9.ewe 10.abbot.

47 48